It is crucial to renew the health insurance plan in time. Experts usually recommend that one should renew the plan at least 15 days prior to the due date. This is to ensure you don't lose the added benefits that usually come from policy continuation.
Insurance companies generally send notices as reminder for renewing insurance policies. However, it is definitely your duty to remember the dates. It is good to set a reminder on your mobile phone or get personal notices through secretaries.
The best way to remember the renewal date is to record it with other important dates such as anniversaries, birthdays, etc. You can record renewal dates along with these important dates of your life.
Not renewing health insurance on time may result in complications. Here is an example of problems faced by insurance buyers
Imagine this – Mr. Shah's mother suffers a heart attack. She needs emergency hospitalization. Luckily she has been insured under a health insurance India policy. Mr. Shah went ahead to file claims with the health insurance company.
The Problem – Mr. Shah knows that the health insurance India policy had long lapsed. He didn't renew it! As a result, Mr. Shah had to pay the hospital expenses from his own pocket.
From that day onwards, Mr. Shah resolved to keep a record of health insurance renewal India dates. And since then, he had never failed on renewing the policy.
In India, it is important to renew health insurance policy on time. In fact, it is as important as buying an insurance plan and paying premiums for it. Upon failure of renewing an insurance plan, you may have to face embarrassment during filing the claim. The situation may be similar to what Mr. Shah faced in the above example.
Dangers of NOT Renewing Health Insurance Plan
Insurance Premium Increase
In the event where your existing health insurance plan lapses and you opt for a new policy, you may require paying out more premium amount for the brand new plan.
Pre-existing Disease
It is important to be punctual about your health insurance renewal India for pre-existing disease. Missing renewal date will keep you from covering the illness for the new policy and your previous claim will be categorized as ‘pre-existing disease/illness’.
Cover
In case, you have covered a pre-existing disease in your health insurance policy but haven't made claim, then you are entitled to get a cover for the 'pre-existing disease' in that health insurance plan subsequent to 'claim-free' 4 years. The term period (4 years) start from the policy commencement date. This is possible only if you focus on renewing your plan on time. You need to renew the plan every year. In the event where the policy lapses, the new health plan you invest in will demand another 4 years (claim free) prior to covering the pre-existing disease.
Bonus
The health insurance company will reward you a bonus of about 10 per cent for each claim free year. The claim free year is a period of 12 months during which you don't claim any money. The bonus is added to the cover amount depending on a limit of 50 per cent. Once you complete 4 claim-free renewals (consistently), you are entitled to get a free medical check-up. This is up to 1 per cent of sum insured (on 5th renewal). However, if you ignore renewal of policy, you will miss the above mentioned benefits too.
Review
Renewing the health insurance policy is the best way to review your plan. It helps you know about the present condition of your policy, the features offered, premium charges, and much more. There may be chances to change the plan completely after speaking to the company representatives in case; you are not satisfied by the policy. You may even add certain cover facilities when renewing the plan. This depends on the policy of the company.
Waiting Period
Health insurance policies do not allow for claims during the first thirty days. This is especially in case of non-renewal of policy in time. The same goes in case the buyer decides to change the insurance company. With each change of company and delay in renewal of insurance plan, the waiting period of 'thirty' days also starts afresh. Hence, it is vital to renew health insurance plan without delay each year. With a break in the health policy, one may lose out on a number of benefits that may be acquired over a period of time.
How to go about health insurance renewal India?
Buying a health insurance policy is not enough. Almost all insurance plans have an end term after which the buyer must renew it. Hence, apart from buying the health insurance policy, it is crucial to renew it from time to time. The best thing to do is renew the plan prior to the expiry date each year in order to get maximum benefits of a health policy.
Some insurance providers may allow grace period of certain days after date of expiry for renewing. However, one needs to renew the plan ideally 10 to 15 days prior to the date of expiry. This ensures one does not lose the continuity benefit that is offered by the insurance company along with a health insurance policy.