Case Study
Abbineni Sudha Rani v. Abbineni Ravi Kumar Verma
The complainant filed the complaint under section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, against the insurance company offering the Happy Family Floater Policy. The complainant bought the policy in 2010 and has paid the premium since 2016. In the first year, the complainant paid INR 9,552. Later, upon the policy renewal, the insurer sent the renewal notice asking the insured to pay INR 24,921. In the last renewal, the complainant paid INR 48,235 and discovered the PNB Oriental Royal Medi Claim policy could be obtained by paying INR 6,960. Therefore, the PNB policy was cheaper than the Happy Family Floater Policy. Thus, the complainant sued the opposite party under consumer court.
After examining the fact of the present case, the court held the following:
Generally, an insurance company frames various policies by considering the risk factor, expenditure and percentage of claims. Hence, the company may suffer loss. However, due to the loss, the company cannot escape from the liability of settling the genuine claim. In the present case, the court observed that both insurance companies are different parties. Hence they may charge the premium price as per their assessment. It is the discretion of the policyholder to choose either one. Therefore, based on the above finding, the Happy Family Floater Policy cannot be held liable for charging excessive prices.
Conclusion
The comparison of Group Health Insurance vs Family Floater Insurance can be determined on the basis of aforementioned facts. Online group health insurance and family floater insurance are available. It is at the discretion of the policyholder to choose either of the both plan. However, some companies also cover family members in group insurance. So, the policyholders may choose between the group insurance or family floater insurance as per the circumstance.