Rajdeep, 35, is planning to buy a health insurance policy for his family of five—himself, his wife, their child, and his elderly parents. While he already has a family floater policy that covers him and his wife, he is unsure whether to include his parents in a family floater plan or purchase a separate policy for them. Here are the key factors to consider to take an informed decicion.
What is a family floater health insurance policy?
A health insurance plan is a single policy that covers multiple family members (typically self, spouse, and children) under one umbrella sum insured. It offers a shared pool of coverage, meaning any member can use the total sum insured for medical expenses.
It is generally more cost-effective than buying separate policies
How the premium of family floater health insurance policies are calculated?
Family floater premiums are primarily calculated based on the age of the eldest member covered. Other key factors are – sum insured, medical history of family members, and family size
Should you add your elderly parents to your family health insurance policy?
Adding elderly parents in a family floater health plan is not at all advisable. Including elderly parents makes the premium high for the entire family as in a floater are calculated based on the age of the eldest member (high medical risk), accoding to Siddharth Singhal, Business Head of Health Insurance at Policybazaar.com,
Family floater is a shared pool and elderly parents are more prone to health ailments/have higher hospitalisation probability, thus the risk of exhausting the sum-insured increases. Also, during renewal the premium hikes due to changing age brackets.
“Moreover, all the family members here- man, wife, one child, 2 elderly parents will have to serve waiting periods and pre-existing disease limits.”
In case of big claims for elderly parents the pool can reduce the standard cover available for the rest of the family members. Therefore, it’s always better to buy a separate policy for elderly parents as it’s financially smarter and operationally better, the expert concludes.