5 Mistakes to Avoid While Porting Your Health Insurance Policy

So you have finally decided to upgrade your health insurance to a better policy. Yet, you are afraid of making a mistake that may cost you a year of healthcare security. Portability can be tricky, especially when you don’t have a guide. Thus, we bring some expert advice to save your finances and health while choosing the right mediclaim for yourself and your loved ones. Read on to learn about the pitfalls of portability that nobody talks about. 

5 Mistakes You Must Avoid During Health Insurance Portability

1. Filing a Delayed Portability Request

The foremost mistake policyholders make—while wanting to switch to a desired health insurer—is not raising a timely request. Generally, insurers advise people to issue a portability request within 45-60 days before their existing policy expires. Most insurers shall not entertain any delay or last-minute requests.

So, if you are unsatisfied with your current insurer, you must set a portability reminder 60 days before your next annual premium. This way, you can have a decent time buffer to understand the portability clauses and evaluate the new insurer’s offerings.

2. Porting to a Health Insurance with Limited Benefits

The very purpose of porting from a health plan is to switch to a better policy– with greater healthcare benefits and value addition. However, some policyholders fail to meet this need for portability by trading off policy benefits for cheaper rates. While cost-saving is a legit concern, you should not settle for a limited policy with restricted benefits and a small cashless hospital network. That’s where you need to do a lot of homework comparing various health insurance policies and their offers.

At Care Health Insurance, we ensure that our policies serve your portability need with wider benefits and maximum savings. Our customisable health plans come with unique benefits like-

• Extended pre and post-hospitalisation coverage
• Ambulance cover, advanced technology treatment
• 2X cumulative bonus in just 2 claim-free years, and 
• Annual health check-ups. 

Evaluate these benefits before porting your policy to ensure you get the maximum return at the best value.

3. Not Utilizing your Accumulated Bonus

One of the biggest advantages of health insurance portability is the utility of accumulated bonuses. For all the claim-free years, your previous health insurer increases your sum insured by a certain percentage— known as the no-claim bonus. While porting your policy, you can choose an increased or decreased sum insured by either utilising or discarding your previous sum insured.

Here’s our pro tip– do not let go of your accumulated bonus while porting your health insurance policy. Also, you should avoid going for a higher sum insured, as this would need you to serve an additional waiting period for the difference amount. That’s why the ideal portability situation is to choose a new sum insured, which is the sum of your previous sum insured and the accumulated bonus.

For instance, suppose your previous base sum insured was 10 lakhs, and you earned 5 lakhs as a no-claim bonus. In this case, we recommend you opt for 15 lakhs as the new sum insured as it not only utilises your bonus but can also waive off your waiting period already served.

4. Not Disclosing Pre-existing Diseases

No matter your age, prolonged conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease can hit anybody at any time. Contrary to the misconception, your standard health insurance does not cover the cost incurred toward treating pre-existing diseases. Rather, most insurers include a 4-year waiting period before you can file a claim for pre-existing diseases.

That’s why you must disclose any pre-existing ailment while porting your health insurance, as it can affect your claim settlement under the new policy. Let’s quote an example:

• Suppose you have already served a waiting period of 2 years with the current insurer.
• Now that you have developed type-2 diabetes, you wish to port your policy to an insurer offering a 2-year waiting time for pre-existing illnesses. 
• If you do not disclose your diabetes condition while porting, your new insurer shall not entertain your claim for any diabetes-related hospitalisation.
• Also, you would need to undergo a waiting period for pre-existing ailments as per the new policy terms.

Thus, disclosing the pre-existing conditions can ensure a  simplified waiting period tenure and claim settlement process.

5. Cancelling the Previous Policy without Acknowledgement

The last pitfall you must avoid while undergoing the portability process is rushing. You must never cancel your previous policy without any acknowledgement from the previous insurer. This is because the new insurer or the underwriter might reject or modify the policy offers based on your claim history and medical claim. Without the final offer acceptance, discontinuing the current policy can leave you out of insurance altogether.

>> Read More: Advantages of Porting Health Insurance

Supporting Your Portability Journey at Care Health Insurance

Superior policy benefits, customisable options, and multi-year policy discounts are some of the features encouraging hundreds of families to switch to Care Health Insurance. Our high claim settlement ratio and wide network of cashless hospitals help policyholders receive quality healthcare services at the best price. During portability, we ensure policyholders enjoy a seamless and well-informed process with maximum benefits as per policy terms and guidelines.

Disclaimer: Please verify the policy details and coverage with the official policy documents. Also, kindly consult a professional medical expert to verify the details of health concerns.