Switching from one insurance coverage to another might occur for a variety of reasons. Before you apply for portability, make sure you understand everything there is to know about it. If consumers were unsatisfied with the services provided by their existing provider, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) allowed them to port a health insurance policy. However, it is important to note that all porting requests are subject to underwriting criteria, and it is fully up to the insurer to accept or deny a port-in request.
What is Health Insurance Portability?
Port a health insurance policy is the feature to transfer between insurers without fear of losing benefits (such as no-claim-bonus) or having to sit out a waiting period that you may have already finished with your prior insurer. I focus on health insurance since rules only allow for the transfer of health plans issued by non-life insurers. If you’ve been insured by group insurance up until now and decide to shift employment, this feature will allow you to switch to an individual policy or a family floater.
Important Guidelines to Port a Health Insurance Policy
- Your application for portability should be submitted 45 days before the expiration of your current policy. It is important to understand that portability is not guaranteed. If the risk is not acceptable under its underwriting rules, the new insurers may refuse the proposal.
- After all, not all regulations apply to us, but also the insurer! Within 15 days after receiving a proposal, the new insurer is expected to reply to a portable request. If the timing of your proposal is delayed and you are scheduled to renew the previous policy then you will have to ask the new insurer to supply you with insurance for up to thirty (30) days after the timing of your insurance undertaking. For this brief period, your premium payments to the previous insurer will be pro-rata computed.
- Your proposal may be accepted by the new insurer only if it meets their underwriting standards. If you have a clean slate for pre-existing diseases and have had a claim-free policy, the business will appreciate it and charge the minimal cost. However, if one of these two occurs, they may charge an extra fee. Or, if you do not meet their underwriting standards, they may go one step farther and reject you a policy entirely.
- This provision, which is the most favorable aspect of policy portability, allows you to transfer to the new insurer without having to wait the whole waiting period all over again.
- If there is a policy violation, the policy will be rejected. That is, you must transfer your insurance before your current one expires. By being careful and keeping a clean record of all papers like renewal letters and policy certificates that confirm your continuity of coverage, you might gain brownie points with the insurer you’re applying to.
How to Port a Health Insurance policy?: Follow these Simple Steps
- Step 1: As previously said, apply to the new insurer 45 days before the old insurance expires.
- Step 2: When the new insurer receives your application, they will expect you to complete your portability and proposal paperwork. Fill ’em to the brim! And then submit!
- Step 3: The new insurer must verify your information (such as medical and claim history) with the old policy’s insurer within 7 days.
- Step 4: The insurance firm will now transmit the necessary information to the regulator in the format stipulated by the regulator via the IRDA’s site to change the policy.
- Step 5: Once the new insurer has received all of the necessary information, they will frame the proposal in line with their underwriting standards.
- Step 6: The new insurer will process your application and provide you with a proposal within 15 days. But wait! There’s a bright aspect to this! If this is not completed within 15 days, despite obtaining all of the necessary information, they will be forced to accept the policy-porting.
