How Can a Family Health Plan Keep You Out of Trouble?

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May 7, 2025
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In India, the expense of healthcare can put a strain on many families' resources. All social classes are impacted by medical inflation as well. How do you intend to pay for your family's medical bills in such circumstances? Consider buying a family health plan to guard against growing medical expenses. To find out how the best family health insurance plans in India can benefit your family's health issues, read the article.

What is a Family Health Plan?

An insurance plan that covers your whole family is called a family health plan. You can pay the premium for a single insurance policy to cover all of your family members rather than enrolling each one separately. Maternity benefits, pre- and post-hospitalisation costs, and cashless care are frequently covered by family health insurance.

What is Covered by the Family Health Plan?

You can benefit from a family health plan in several ways. The majority of family insurance policies cover the following situations.

1. Hospitalisation

Hospitalisation costs, including intensive care unit (ICU) fees, room rent, doctor's fees, etc., are covered by the finest family insurance policies. These are the situations where the patient stays in the hospital for more than 24 hours.

2. Pre and Post-Hospitalisation

Plans for family insurance also pay for all expenses incurred during the stay at the hospital. Costs associated with consultation, diagnosis, medical testing, etc., are included in pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses.

3. Daycare Treatment

Procedures that necessitate hospitalisation for fewer than twenty-four hours are referred to as daycare treatment. It covers cataract surgery, chemotherapy, and dialysis.

4. Ambulance Charges

A family health insurance covers the charges of transporting a patient to the hospital through an ambulance. This includes air and road ambulances. Policyholders can make a claim to receive a reimbursement for the ambulance’s cost under the health insurance plan. It is important to check the registration of ambulance usage by the service provider. 

5. Maternity Cover

Maternity benefits and coverage for a newborn child for a predetermined amount of time are frequently included in full family health insurance. Prenatal care, postnatal care, and labour are all covered by the maternity benefits.

6. Critical Illness

Critical illnesses like cancer, kidney disease, and heart issues can be covered by a family health plan. Enrolling senior individuals in insurance can assist you with the costs because they are more susceptible to such ailments.

Benefits of Family Health Plan

A family health plan can offer you several advantages. Here are a few of them listed below:-

1. Financial Security

Medical care can be extremely expensive. Older family members often require multiple hospital visits for treatment, which can put a strain on your finances. To safeguard against these financial burdens, purchasing comprehensive family health insurance has become essential. It offers a reliable way to secure your financial future.

2. Cashless Treatment

Some hospitals offer the best family insurance plan. The insurance company will pay for the procedure. Therefore, you can use a family health plan to benefit from cashless treatment.

3. Affordable Premium

The premiums for family health insurance plans are typically less than those for solo plans. By paying the cost for one plan, you can insure your parents as well as other family members.

4. Add New Members Easily

More members of a family can be included in the plan at a surcharge rate. Be it parents, spouses or even newborn children - all members are eligible for the health insurance policy. It is important to check that the sum insured is sufficient to cover each member of the family health insurance plan.

5. Better than Managing Multiple Insurance Plans

Managing many insurance plans and keeping track of when you need to pay the renewal premiums may be a real pain. By paying a single premium to cover everyone in your family, a family health plan allows you to do away with the inconveniences.

Points To Consider Before Buying a Family Health Plan

The elements that will assist you in selecting the finest family health plan are listed below.

1. Coverage

Numerous illnesses and costs can be covered by an insurance plan, but it might also exclude them. Hospitalisation costs, pre- and post-hospitalisation costs, and nursery treatment costs are typically covered by family health insurance. To determine whether a policy would suit your needs, you must examine its coverage options.

2. Option for Increasing Sum Insured

An insurance plan that lets you increase the amount insured at renewal is an option. Medical inflation may make it beneficial in the future. In addition to the cost of hospital stays, medical expenses also include the growing cost of prescription drugs, diagnostic tests, and doctor visits. You will be in a much better position to handle this difficulty if your insurance allows you to increase the insured sum.

3. Age and Number of Family Members

When choosing the best insurance plan, be certain of your objectives. The premium you pay for the insurance plan will be directly impacted by your financial situation, the size of your family, and the ages of each member. The size of your family has a direct impact on the amount insured under your plan.

4. Claim Settlement 

To comprehend a policy's claim settlement procedure, you must read its terms and conditions. One useful metric for assessing an insurance company's reliability is the claim settlement ratio. It represents the proportion of claims that a business settles each year relative to the total number of claims it receives. The better the settlement process, the higher the claim settlement ratio.

5. Coverage of Hospital Network

There are insurance policies offered by a network of hospitals. A hospital must be a member of the plan's network of hospitals to receive the advantages of cashless treatment. Therefore, choose an insurance plan that covers numerous hospitals.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed the facets of a family health plan. In the event of a medical emergency, it can assist your family. You can get good value for money with a family health insurance plan. Access to a variety of hospitals and pre- and post-hospitalisation coverage is provided by SBI’s family health insurance plan. Choosing a good family health plan ensures financial security, cashless treatment, and comprehensive coverage, safeguarding your loved ones during medical emergencies.

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All About Adding Spouse To Health Insurance After Marriage

Marriage brings a lot of changes in your life. Not only does it affect your lifestyle, but it also requires you to switch your investments in a way that are better suited for a family. You will now want to include your spouse to your financial world by adding them as a nominee in your banking accounts and other investment assets. Amidst all these personal and financial changes, do not forget to add your spouse to your health insurance plan. Adding spouse to health insurance after marriage is quite easy and can be done in three ways.

  • Buying a new family floater plan

    If you do not have an existing health insurance plan, now would be a great time to invest your money in a family floater health insurance plan. Health insurance plans for family members cover your spouse, parents, and dependent children. The family floater plan allows you to pay a single premium to cover all named family members for medical expenses.

    When buying a family floater plan, do ensure that it offers adequate coverage for you and your family. It is also important to keep in mind that the coverage amount is directly proportional to the health insurance premium you need to pay. This means that a family health insurance plan that offers a sum insured of Rs 10 lakh will require you to pay lower premium as compared to a family health insurance plan that offers coverage of Rs 20 lakh. However, it is advisable to opt for a higher sum insured if you have senior members in the plan.

  • Adding spouse to insurance after marriage

    If you already have an existing health insurance policy, you can extend the cover to your spouse by adding their name to the policy after marriage. Upon adding you spouse, the individual health insurance plan will be transformed into a family floater plan. Since the coverage amount will increase, the premium of the policy will be recalculated. You can also add your spouse to your existing health insurance policy at the time of its renewal. You will need an application form and a few KYC documents like identity proof, residence proof, marriage certificate and photographs, to get this process started. You can easily get the application form from the insurer’s website.

  • Adding your spouse to the health insurance plan offered by your employer

    There are many companies that offer health plans to their employees. These plans usually extend the coverage to the immediate family of the employee. However, this condition varies from one insurer to the other. Hence, it is better to check with your insurance company if they allow you to add your spouse to the existing health insurance plan that is issued by your employer. Here, it is important to remember that the health insurance policies offered by employers are group insurance plans and may, therefore, have certain limitations to coverage. Still, these plans offer a great option for coverage in case you don’t have health insurance of your own.

It is quite important to avail the health insurance cover for your spouse after marriage. This can help the both of you to securely plan your financial future.

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.

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Steps of adding spouse to health insurance after marriage

Marriage is a huge step in everybody’s life. And personal finance has a big role to play for a successful married life. Therefore, it is important to update the financial records, including the health insurance plan, post-marriage.

In case you did not have an individual health insurance policy before the wedding, you can invest in a family floater plan for yourself and your spouse. In case you already have an individual health insurance policy at the time of wedlock, then you do not need to buy another one for your partner. Instead, you can add your spouse to the plan and convert it into a single policy. It is a feasible and simple way of ensuring that you and your partner are adequately covered.

Porting health insurance after marriage is also important. When one of the partners already owns a plan, you simply need to add another partner to the current policy as the spouse. There is no specific rule which specifies who can add the partner. The process of adding the spouse to health insurance after marriage is simple. The one who owns the policy can start this process with the submission of KYC documents such as identity proof, proof of age, photographs and marriage certificate.

The change will come into effect in the next policy renewal by just submitting the additional form and paperwork. Once you do this, the premium will be calculated and pro-rated. It will become a family floater insurance policy that covers all the members of the family for a single premium. You will not have to worry about paying separate premiums for each member of the family. It will cover the entire family at the lowest premium based on the age of the members in the family. Let us take a look at the benefits of a family floater plan.

  • A major perk of the floater plan is that you can cover yourself and your entire family in one policy. The policy is easier to handle and you do not have to worry about handling separate individual plans

  • You enjoy additional benefits like a newborn cover, maternity benefits, etc. It will be highly effective for young married couples who are on the road to starting a family. You must ensure that you choose a plan that covers yourself and the spouse and invest in one right after marriage

  • You must also get maternity cover at the earliest. It has a waiting period between 0 to 4 years and if you buy the cover on time, you will be able to enjoy the maximum benefits

  • With a family floater plan, you enjoy the same tax benefits under Section 80D as you do on individual health insurance

  • Many plans come with a reinstatement feature where you enjoy the reinstatement of the entire coverage after it is exhausted in the policy period. This is only applicable to unrelated claims but it is very useful.

If you do not have a policy and are looking to buy one, consider a joint life policy. It will work on the same lines and will provide coverage to your children in future if anything unfortunate happens to the parents. The main reasons couples should think of joint life insurance are premium reduction and waiver benefits. In this case, if one partner dies due to an unfortunate event, the spouse will not only be entitled to enjoy the full sum assured on the cover but will also be absolved of the responsibility of the payment of premium. Alternatively, the spouse may have to pay premiums only applicable for their own cover for the remaining period of the policy.

After your marriage, it is your responsibility to ensure the safety and adequate coverage of your spouse. You must include your spouse in the decision and speak to them about the coverage you wish to buy. Only then proceed with the decision. The right health insurance plan will offer acomplete protection and peace for the future.

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.

Health Insurance

Advantages of Group Health Insurance

As the name suggests, group health insurance is aimed to offer health insurance cover to a group of people, usually employees, and if offered by an employer. It can also be offered to members of a professional association or a society. As compared to individual insurance, group insurance has many benefits for the employee as well as the employer who offers the insurance.

  1. Comprehensive cover: Group health insurance plans offer wide coverage and can be customised by the employer. It comes with many benefits like cashless healthcare services at network hospitals. There is no waiting period which means the employee is covered from day one. Besides personal accident cover, some group health insurance plans offer cover to family members of the employee.

  1. Guaranteed cover: All employees and in some cases their dependants are covered, even if they have existing medical conditions. A group insurance policy doesn't require a separate medical check-up. As long as an employee is working for the organisation offering group health insurance, he or she shall remain covered under the plan.

  1. Low premium: As group health insurance plans are bought for a larger group of people, they offer comprehensive cover at affordable rates. The costs are much lower than individual health insurance plans. Group health insurance plans can be customised as per the employer’s budget and requirements.

  1. Tax incentive for the employer: Besides safeguarding employees from health issues, group health insurance plans also provide tax benefits to the employer. Under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act, tax relief is offered to businesses that give their employees the benefit of group health insurance.

  1. Happy employees: When companies offer health insurance plans to their employees, they help retain and attract good talent. A Group Health Insurance plan is a significant part of the employees’ total compensation. A group health insurance plan provides employees with financial security against accident and illness.

  1. Rider options: With a nominal extra payment, employees can take advantage of other additional benefits. The employee can also opt for a corporate plan along with the base plan offered by the employer. The riders may differ from one organisation to another.

Provide your employees SBI General Group Health Insurance

Group health insurance is a very important benefit that makes employees feel like a valued part of an organisation. It helps companies retain as well as attract talent. SBI General Group Health Insurance plans offer multiple coverages: Individual, family floater. It offers wide coverage from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 7.5 lakh. The group health insurance plans offer pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses. With SBI General group health insurance plans keep your employees happy.

Disclaimer: SBI General Insurance Company Limited I Corporate & Registered Office: 'Natraj', 301, Junction of Western Express Highway & Andheri - Kurla Road, Andheri (East), Mumbai - 400 069. | The information in the advertisement 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. * ‘Tax benefits are subject to changes in tax laws’ I 'For SBI General Insurance Company Limited IRDAI Reg. No. 144 dated 15/12/2009 | CIN: U66000MH2009PLC190546 | SBI Logo displayed belongs to State Bank of India and used by SBI General Insurance Co. Ltd. under license. | Website : www.sbigeneral.in,Tollfree 18001021111 | UIN: SBIHLGP21330V022021 | ADDIG/20-21/AUG/652