Although health insurance is indispensable amidst rising healthcare costs, some individuals can find it expensive to pay the hefty health insurance premiums of multiple health plans.
This is why many salaried employees depend on group health coverage provided by their employers. This type of health insurance plan often extends its coverage to the family members as well.
However, parents have their specific insurance requirements, which a group medical insurance policy may or may not fulfil. So, the question is: should you add parents to your group health plan or opt for an individual health policy for them?
Let’s find out the answer.
Advantages of Including Parents in Group Medical Insurance Policy
There are many benefits of group health coverage. This includes the addition of family members of the beneficiary to the policy. It means, you can add your spouse, children and parents to your group health insurance plan.
While a few insurers provide this coverage plan for parents free of cost, other insurance companies offer this coverage at an added premium. Here are a few benefits of adding parents to group health insurance:
No Pre-Medical Check-up
The biggest advantage of adding parents to a group health insurance policy for the family is that they do not have to go through any medical check-ups to get coverage under the employee health plan. Your parents, children, spouse and you can enjoy the benefits of the health plan from the start date of the policy without undergoing the hassle of a health check-up.
No Waiting Period
When it comes to group mediclaim policy for family, there is no waiting period involved. This means that employees as well as their dependents can receive coverage from the first day of the policy. In addition, there are some companies that provide female employees with maternity coverage without any mandatory waiting period.
Lower Premium
The premium for a family group insurance policy is comparatively lower than an individual health plan. This means you pay a low premium, even if you include your parents in the group health plan. Simply put, your parents can get medical coverage at an affordable premium, saving you from paying higher premiums for an individual health policy.
Pre-existing Diseases Coverage
One of the reasons why group mediclaim policy for parents is a must, is the absence of waiting period for pre-existing diseases. Your parents can avail treatment for their existing ailments, like diabetes, cardiac issues, etc. from the first day of owning the policy without going through any waiting period. This way, they can undergo required treatment and raise a claim for the same against your group health plan.
Top-up/Super Top-up Feature
Typically, a general health policy comes with a small amount of sum insured for providing coverage. The amount is just about sufficient to cover your healthcare requirements. However, using the top-up feature you can increase the sum insured by paying an extra premium. If the claim amount is more than the sum insured amount you can use top-up or super top-up to provide you coverage against the extra claim amount.
Disadvantages of Including Parents in Group Medical Insurance Policy
Here are some of the major disadvantages of including your parents in your employee health plan, which may dissuade you from opting for this plan to provide coverage for your parents’ medical expenses.
Job Discontinuation
A huge setback of having a group health plan is that if you switch jobs or discontinue your existing job, your coverage is terminated. You and your family are left without any financial coverage for medical treatments. This gap remains until you receive a group health policy under your new employer.
Plan Continuation Depends on Employer
How long the group health plan continues depends entirely on the employer, who can either modify coverage levels or discontinue the plan altogether. They also have the authority to limit the eligibility for parents as dependents.
Conclusion
To answer the question based on the above-mentioned pros and cons, it is clear that you can include your parents in the group medical insurance policy from a reliable provider like TATA AIG.
However, if your parents are more vulnerable to falling ill and have critical medical needs, you should consider buying a dedicated health policy to meet their specific healthcare requirements.
