Portability of Mediclaim Health Insurance

With the introduction of portability by IRDA, there are clear guidelines for moving or porting mediclaim health insurance from an existing company to a new insurance provider. The policy holder has the right to port to a different company if he / she is not satisfied with the services or features of the current insurance provider. Portability allows the policy holders to carry forward the benefits accrued from the earlier policy.

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The policy holder rights include :

  • The policy holder can port the mediclaim health insurance from the current company to any general insurance company or specialized health insurance company.
  • The customer can port an Individual / Family mediclaim policy.
  • The new insurer has to give the customer credit relating to waiting period for pre-existing conditions that the customer has gained with the old insurer.
  • The new insurer has to insure the customer at least up to the sum insured under the old policy.
  • The two insurers should complete the porting as per the timelines prescribed in the IRDA (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests) Regulations and guidelines.

Conditions for portability :

  • Portability of the Mediclaim health insurance is possible only at the time of renewal. That is, the new insurance period will be with the new insurance company.
  • Apart from the waiting period credit, all other terms and conditions of the new policy along with the premium are at the discretion of the new insurance company.
  • The customer has to request porting at least 45 days before the health insurance renewal is due. The customer has to write to the current insurance company requesting a shift.
  • The customer has to specify the company to which he/she wants to shift the policy.
  • The customer has to renew the policy without a break (there is a 30 day grace period if porting is under process)

How do one port a health insurance policy?

Portability of health insurance can be done only at the time of renewal. The policy holder has to start the process 45 days before the expiry of the current policy.
Step-1: Apply for portability of the health insurance policy 45 days prior to the last date of renewal of your existing policy.
Step-2: On receiving the request for portability, the new insurance company will provide the customer with the portability form and the proposal form which has to filled and returned to them along with other required documents (if any).
Step-3: After the customer submits the forms for portability to the new company, it will approach the existing insurance company seeking details such as medical reports, claim history and other required details.
Step - 4: The existing insurer will share the required data to your new insurance provider within 7 working days of the receipt of request from the new company.
Step - 5: On receipt of the requested details, the new insurance company will take a decision on underwriting your policy within 15 days. The underwriter will assess the risk involved in order to determine the premium that needs to be charged. The new insurance company might reject your portability request if it finds that it is high risk to provide you insurance. If your portability is rejected, then the policy holder has to renew with the same company or look for another insurance provider.

Benefits of portability :

Portability gives the consumer the flexibility to shift companies and to avail of the services of the best insurance policy for their needs. The benefits accrued from the current insurance can be carried forward to the new insurance policy.

Here is an example to understand this point. Let us take a benefit of waiting period on pre-existing condition. Under the current insurance the condition was excluded for 2 years and in a new insurance provider the exclusion period is for 3 years. When the customer does the portability, there will be only 1 additional year of waiting period for the pre-existing ailments to be covered.