Own your health insurance even if you're covered under group health cover

When we are young, and fresh into a job, the company we work for, enrols us into their corporate group health cover. Most youngsters join unwillingly because nobody foresees any medical emergencies or it is not on the top of the priority list at that age. But soon we find the goodies of the group medical scheme - when a parent is hospitalised with a pre-existing aliment or when our spouse is hospitalised for delivery and when the new born baby needs neo-natal care. As age progress, we become hard core fan of the corporate group health scheme and recommend it to all. All through-out our career, we find the corporate group health cover was there for us when we needed it the most. There are clear advantages of being part of a group health cover. The biggest being getting extra covers like pre-existing diseases covers, maternity benefits cover, many waiting periods waivers and so on which are either not covered under individual health insurance or required to be earned over many years of continuous renewals. The group size also gives the benefit of group discounts, thus bringing our premium down.

When we’re around 60 years of age, most of us would have some of those lifestyle or age related ailments, and when we retire from the company  the corporate medical coverage ends. Now we would have to look out for individual health insurance to cover us. Shockingly, we find that many insurers either won’t cover us or would cover us for high premium with lot of medical restrictions on pre-existing ailments. We would find that some treatments which were funded by the corporate group health cover over the years would be now treated as pre-existing ailments to your new individual health policy. Post retirement is the time when we need the medical cover the most, but would be left out high and dry.

Moreover, job security in the current global economical situation is a concept of the past. No one can be  sure if one would be a  victim of economical slow down or corporate down-sizing. With losing the job, the corporate health scheme will cease. The new employer may or may not offer group medical cover as part of employee benefits. Medical expenses for self or family can cause severe financial distress when one is in between jobs or is active in the job market seeking new employment.

To counter the above situation, it is highly recommended to own your own mediclaim and fund individual health insurance parallel to corporate group health cover. With every year of renewal, certain benefits are added to the individual health insurance and after completion of 4 years of continuous coverage benefits like pre-existing ailments are covered.  Now individual health insurance can be renewed almost lifelong. There is no restriction on the renewal age provided you take the cover when you were younger.  

Having a separate health insurance policy ensures that you and your family would be properly covered irrespective of whether you are covered under a corporate policy or not. Continuous renewal of this policy would ensure that you would have sat through all the waiting periods applicable when an emergency arises. It ensures that you have the freedom of deciding the sum insured and the best coverage that your family requires, accruing bonus and no claim benefits.