Individual Health Insurance Plans Vs Group Health Insurance Plans

Health insurance plans play an essential role when it comes to medical expenses. These plans compensate for the medical expenses incurred during the hospitalization in case of an emergency. You must invest in a suitable health insurance plan after comparing and researching various plans. There are different types of health insurance plans in the market like individual health insurance plans, family floater plans, group health insurance plans, maternity benefit plans, critical illness covers, etc. You must choose a certain type of health insurance plan based on your choices and requirements. 

Individual health insurance plans provide coverage to a single person and offer a wide range of features and benefits to that person. A group health insurance plan can cover a large group of people, by equally distributing the coverage of the plan among the beneficiaries of the plan. Group health insurance covers are generally purchased by a company, organization, or employer for their employees to protect them against any high costs of medical treatments. The premium rate of a group health insurance plan is much lesser than an individual health insurance cover. 

About Individual Health Insurance Plans 

An individual health insurance policy covers a single person under the plan, and the complete sum assured under the purchased policy is dedicated to that single policyholder of the plan. It comes with an extensive range of benefits and features that can be customized by the insurer based on the requirements of the policyholders. An individual health insurance plan is of great use in case the customer is suffering from any critical disease as it provides sufficient coverage to a single person for high-cost treatments, which a group health insurance plan does not offer. Let us look at some of the key features and benefits of an individual health insurance plan: 

• This plan offers exclusive and comprehensive coverage to a single individual. 
• It is affordable and cost-effective for the customers, as it includes the costs of the critical diseases under the plan. 
• It offers a deduction of tax benefits under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act. 
• Customers have the flexibility of customizing their policy covers according to their demands. 
• No claim bonus is provided to the policyholders for each claim-free year in a policy tenure. 

A person who is more vulnerable to contract a critical or life-threatening disease in the family must have a separate individual health insurance plan to look after the medical expenses at the time of an emergency. This helps the person to get over the financial burden and avoids them from exhausting their monetary savings. 

Must Read: Individual vs Family Health Insurance Plans

About Group Health Insurance Plans

A  group health insurance plan is a type of health insurance policy that provides coverage to a  group of people working under the same organization, company, or employer. Such plans are purchased by the employer to protect their employees against the high costs of medical treatments and stop them from exhausting their financial savings. It is also known as a corporate health insurance plan in the insurance market. It provides an extensive range of benefits to the employees as it covers the expenses like room rents, ambulance charges, hospitalization costs, healthcare checkup costs, etc. Group health insurance plans also include the family members of the employees like the employee’s spouse, children, and dependent parents. Let us look at some of the common features and benefits of group health insurance policies: 

• The group health insurance plan is purchased in the name of the company or the employer
• The policy is based on employment and it can be availed by the employees as long as they are a part of the organization. 
• This policy does not get expensive with the increase in age of the applicant and it costs less when compared to an individual health insurance plan. 
• The policyholder does not have to undergo a pre-medical healthcare checkup before the purchase of the policy.  

Conclusion 

A group health insurance policy provides enough coverage for medical emergencies to the policyholders and their families, but it is insufficient in case of the treatment of a critical disorder like diabetes, cancer, hypertension, etc. You must invest in a suitable individual health insurance plan if you or any of your family members need a high sum assured for the treatment of their diseases. 

Also Read: Do You Really Need A Family Health Insurance of Rs. 1 Crore?

Disclaimer: This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. Readers are advised not to rely on the contents of the article as conclusive in nature and should research further or consult an expert in this regard.