Are you unhappy with your current health insurance policy? Do you think the coverage provided by your health plan is not adequate for the price you are paying?Or do you feel unsure of the claim-settlement record of your insurer? If you have any such issues with your existing health insurance, you can opt for health insurance portability.

What is health insurance policy portability?

Health or medical insurance portability allows you to easily switch your health insurance policy from one insurance company to another without letting you lose the benefits you have accumulated in your existing policy.

These benefits can include credit relating to waiting period for pre-existing conditions or a no-claim bonus on your existing policy.

For example, your existing insurance company asked you to wait for fiveyears to get a cover for high blood pressure or hypertension (a pre-existing disease). You have now been insured for the past two years with this policy.According to health insurance portability rules, if you change your insurer now, the new policy will allow you to avail continuity benefits of upto two years.And the waiting period for coverage against hypertension would be just three years in the policy issued by the new insurer.

What are your rights if you port your health policy?

If you port your health insurance policy, there are certain rights that no insurer can deny you. Take a look

• You are free to port your policy from and to any general insurance company or specialised health insurance company of your choice without any restriction
• You can port both individual and family floater policies
• You can also switch from one health plan to another within the same insurance company
• Your new insurer has to compulsorily give you the credit relating to the waiting period for pre-existing conditions that you have gained with the old insurer
• Your new insurer has to insure you at least up to the sum insured under the old policy
• The two insurers have to complete the porting process within the timelines prescribed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI)
• If porting is under process, you are entitled to get a 30-day grace period on the policy with your old insurer. This means you can request your old insurer to extend the existing policy for a short period by paying the premium on a pro-rata basis

Conditions to fulfil for availing of Mediclaim portability benefits

In order to protect the interest of both policy holders as well as insurance companies, the Health Insurance Portability and Account ability Act 2011 has also laid out some rules and conditions that you would have to comply with to enjoy Mediclaim policy portability benefits. They are as under:

• Health insurance policy portability is only possible at the juncture of renewal of your policy. This is to ensure that the new insurance period begins with the new insurance company
• Apart from the waiting period credit, all other terms of the new policy, including the premium amount and other benefits are at the discretion of the new insurer
• You need to intimate your old insurer about health policy portability in writing at least 45 days before your renewal is due;you should also specify the company to which you want to shift the policy
• Medical policy portability is only possible if you have renewed your policy with the old insurer without a break;if your policy has already expired, the portability request would not be entertained
• Mediclaim policy portability rules also give insurers the right to accept or decline any request for porting health policy; an insurer can refuse to accept your health policy because of your claims history or because it does not cover any pre-existing illness you have

How can you port your health insurance policy?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to the health insurance portability process:

• Contact the insurer you want to switch to and ask for a health portability form and a proposal form;also, ask for details of the various plans it offers
• Fill the health portability form with the existing policy details
• Then fill the proposal form with the details of the new health insurance policy
• Submit all the supporting documents, such as policy certificates of the previous years, latest renewal notice, claims history, etc.
• After receiving the forms, the new insurer will verify your details like medical records and claim history at the IRDAI’s common data-sharing portal
• The new insurer is liable to respond to your application within 15 days;otherwise, they lose the right to reject the portability request after this time period

You can check with the new insurer if it is possible to initiate the process of health insurance portability online as not all insurance companies in India provide the online porting facility yet.

Health insurance portability empowers policyholders by providing them unrestrained access to better health plans with better coverage at competitive prices. Moreover, the policy-porting process is extremely simple, transparent and, most importantly, time-bound. So, if you have found a better health plan for you, switch without a hitch.

Disclaimer: The above information is indicative in nature. For more details on the risk factor, terms and conditions, please refer to the Sales Brochure and Policy Wordings carefully before concluding a sale.