What Is Family Floater Health Insurance?

How does a family floater operate? 

Mr. Gupta chooses a family floater with a 3 lakh rupee sum guaranteed. He, his spouse, and their two kids are covered under the plan. He makes a 6,000 rupee yearly premium payment for the plan. Let’s think about two potential outcomes: 

Case 1: Mrs. Gupta becomes ill and needs to be hospitalised. Her medical care ended up costing Rs. 2,50,000 in total. The health insurance company pays out the money. 

Case 2: Contaminated water led to a serious stomach sickness that affected the entire Gupta family. The four members of the family were all hospitalised. The cost of the treatment as a whole came to be Rs. 4,50,000. The health insurance plans for families fully reimburse the insured amount of Rs. 3 lakh. Mr. Gupta ultimately had to pay the remaining sum or Rs. 1.5 lakh, out of his own pocket. 

While it is unlikely that the entire amount covered will be used up within the policy’s term. because there is a chance that everyone in the family will end up in the hospital in a single term. Those who are moving there frequently struggle to decide whether to purchase family floaters or separate policies for each member of their family.  

Advantages: Family Floater 

The primary benefit of a floater is that the policyholder may cover his entire family under a single policy, which is clearly simpler to manage than 4-5 separate plans. Family floater stands out as a significantly less expensive alternative to purchasing a senior citizen health plan when it comes to insuring your parents. 

When it comes to pregnancy cover characteristics, the floater is a more advantageous choice. 

• Section 80D tax benefits for income **
• It is simpler to have your husband, children, or other close relatives included in a floater. 
• Younger families have a slim possibility of filing several claims. As a result, the member filing the claim gets health insurance benefits from a higher sum insured at a lower price.  ##

What isn’t so good

• The obvious drawback of a floater is that the member making the subsequent claim must do away with a thinned-out cover if there are multiple claims within a calendar year (left out of the amount realised for the first claim) 
• The majority of market-available floaters only cover you, your spouse, and your children, leaving out even your parents and siblings. 
• The oldest family member must reach the maximum renewability age before a family floater plan can be renewed. 

Things to look out for:

• Maximum renewability age – Insurers have set the upper limit on entry age from 65 to 75 years old sometime back. However, thanks to IRDA’s intervention, the majority of insurers now provide lifelong renewability. # 
• Verify the sub-limits. Do not be fooled by a health plan’s large offered sum of insurance. Before choosing a plan, always verify the sub-limits for the subcategories. For example, the sum insured for a certain health plan may be Rs. 4 lakh, but the sublimits could be Rs. 40,000 for medications and Rs. 50,000 for pre- and post-hospitalization. 
• Health insurance was previously sold as annual policies. Nonetheless, a lot of insurers now provide health plans with a two-year policy period. 
• One of the less well-known advantages of health insurance is the reinstatement benefit. The amount insured under a plan is often set during the duration of the policy. If the money covered is used up before the policy period, the insured is in a lose-lose situation (the chances of which are thicker in family floaters). If the sum insured is used up before the policy term is up, the reinstatement function refills it. 

** Currently, there are 2 tax regimes in India – new and old. To get the tax benefit you desire, choose the correct one after consulting an expert. You can opt for a regime change during the next financial year.

# Visit the official website of IRDAI for further details.

## All savings are provided by the insurer as per the IRDAI-approved insurance plan. Standard T&C apply

Insurance is the subject matter of solicitation. For more details on benefits, exclusions, limitations, terms, and conditions, please read the sales brochure/policy wording carefully before concluding a sale.