Group health insurance is one of the affordable health insurance plans available in the country. As per the post Covid 19 India lockdown guidelines, it is mandatory for employers/organizations to offer the group health insurance for employees.Thus, it makes it important for the employer to understand the group health insurance policies and how it works. Few important aspects like how the premiums are calculated, terms and conditions associated with the policies have to be studied carefully. Employees highly value the benefits of group health insurance policy. Group health insurance helps the company to identify and solve the risks faced by the employees. The rise in the cost of healthcare and hospitalization can lead to financial instability and group health insurance can largely help the employees during this crisis. Here are a few things to keep in mind before buying a group health insurance for your remote team.
Effectiveness of communication
While purchasing a group health insurance for employees from an insurance company, it is important to see how the insurer responds and effectively communicates during the ongoing insurance tenure. During the times of need, an employee must be able to communicate with the company in ease. In most cases the health insurance company hires a third party for communication purposes and one has to make sure that the respective third-party administrator is good enough or not.An insurance company with a good service track record would be able to add and delete employee records in the policy books, with minimal intervention from your side.
Health Insurance premium
While deciding about the health insurance company, it’s important to understand about the premium, product and service aspects. When an insurer offers lower premium plans, there are chances that they might have a poor customer service. It is important to conduct reference checks with the current group health insurance clients understand regarding their service levels. An efficient insurance company can provide the employees with best deals.
Sum insured
The sum insured is the maximum amount of money per individual that will be paid by the insurance company, in case the employee is hospitalized. The important points to be noted while deciding the sum insured for group health insurance are the type of hospital the employee might prefer and the rising medical inflation costs. The additional sum insured goes cheaper as the premium goes up. For example, a 6 lakh cover costs as much as a 3 lakh cover. The premium costs for the high sum insured and the additional money spent if insured a lower sum might be equal.
Network hospital list
Accidents and diseases can take place anywhere in the world. Hence, while choosing a group health insurance for employees, it's important to know if it covers the entire country or not.The list of hospitals gets updated every policy year. If it covers the entire country, then one has to know the list of network hospitals available. This is crucial if the company is based in a non-metro city.
Extended coverage and benefits
The employees will love it if the group health insurance coverage is extended to his/her dependent family members. One has to think twice about this as the comprehensive coverage of the employee’s families may cost twice the premium costs. Opting for a group health insurance plan that provides maternity health insurance for the employees or their spouses is crucial especially if you have a young team.The main purpose of a group health insurance plan is to provide employees with healthcare benefits and employees must find those benefits actually valuable. The type of benefits provided in a group health insurance plan should be carefully taken into consideration when choosing the best group health insurance plan for your employees. For example: India is worstly struck by the Covid-19 pandemic. The second wave of Covid 19 in India is like a tsunami. More and more people are hospitalized and are undergoing treatments. Ensuring the group health insurance that provides covid 19 insurance is a priority.
Waiting period in health insurance
The waiting period taken to undergo certain types of treatments has to be waived off. The waiting periods are categorized into
1. Initial waiting period
The initial waiting period is mostly 30 days. In the first 30 days of insurance policy purchase one can take claims only for accident related hospitalization. No illness/diseases will be covered in these first 30 days.
2. Pre-existing disease waiting period
Pre-existing diseases are specific diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, thyroid etc., which exist at the time of policy purchase. The waiting period here is about 3 to 4 years typically. Insurers will cover these diseases only after this waiting period.It is advised that the group health insurance plan provided by employers be carefully chosen and one can choose to pay a high premium so as to waive off any waiting periods. This is a major advantage in the Group health insurance plan when compared to other individual health insurance plans.
Staying informed
There are plenty of customization options available in the market to purchase right group health insurance plans for your remote team. The right service, expert advice, purchase assistance and easy policy renewal terms are a few important aspects of any group health insurance policy. Wish to purchase a group health insurance for your organization or your remote team. Get in touch.
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