Choosing the Right Family Floater Plan

As medical expenditures are sky rocket with every passing year, healthcare insurance is fast becoming a must for every household. As the need for healthcare insurance is becoming evident, almost all of us are faced with one question – What would be the best health care plan for my family? On what parameters should I chose the same? Lets start with the type of Medical insurance plans. There are three main type of Healthcare insurance plans, namely:

The individual health insurance plans – covering only one individual
The family floater plan – covering a group of family members
The senior citizen/ health insurance for parents plan – covering individuals aged 50 yrs and above

Among the above 3 options, floater plans suit a family more than any other plans. There are certain reasons for the same.

Family floater provides flexibility to a plan: Let’s illustrate this with an example. Say Mr Ramesh has to take health insurance for his family. He can either chose to buy a 2 lakh cover each for himself and his wife and 1 lakh cover each for his children. In this case, lets suppose the medical expense on the children is more than Rs 1 lakh but no claim on his or his wife medical policy. Then, not only would Mr Ramesh will have to pay extra from his pocket but also, his individual medical insurance was not of much use to him. Now, if Mr Ramesh decided to buy a family floater plan, he can take a plan with Rs 4 lakhs as the sum assured. In this case, even if Rs 1.5 lakh is utilized by his one child, there will be 2.5 lakhs still left for the use of other family members in case an emergency strikes.
Family floater plans have advantage of “economy of scale” over the individual plans. As the premium paid is being shared among 4 individuals the price range is reduced resulting in the same amount of sum assured being provided in lesser cost.

However, there can be a few drawbacks to family floater plans too. The price of family floaters generally depends on the age of the eldest member of the family. As the age of the eldest member rises above 48-52 years, the premium can shoot up. Also, many insurance companies do not accept a 20 years above individual as children.

In that case, a family floater plan which has 2 adult and 2 children make wont be suitable. Hence, the family floaters are generally seen as the most suitable for young families. It is generally seen that a family floater plan can reduce the premium range by 55% if bought at the right stage and time.

Before you go ahead and purchase a family floater, here are some points you should pay attention too:

The sum insured that would need: As thumb rule,it should be more than or at least equal to your present annual income.
Coverage of 2 or more years: After 2 years of coverage with no claim, it gets cheaper to buy the next policy.
Coverage of Pre-existing diseases: What is duration after which the pre-existing diseases would be covered. In some companies it is 2 years while in others it can be up to 4 years.
Renewal of the policy: Till what age is the renewal of the policy allowed. If the eldest member of your family is nearing 65, and the renewal is not allowed after 65 years of age, then maybe you need to rethink about your plans
Misc benefits: Its very important to check how much allowance would be provided to you on room charges, medicines, ambulance charges, fee for health check up, the no claim bonus you would be getting, etc.

For your reference, we have tried to collate information for family floater plans provided by major Indian insurance players. Do check them out but before you buy a policy based on below information, we recommend you check the details with the concerned company representative also. Happy reading!

Insurer	Plan	Renewal	Medical Test	Maternity Benefits	Pre-Existing Diseases Coverage	Critical Illness	Ambulance Service	Number of family members who can be covered	Cashless	Sum Insured
Cholamandalam	Family Health	Renew upto 69 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	Covered after 3 yrs	not covered	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless	2 to 5
Reliance General Insurance	Healthwise- Gold	Renew upto 80 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 2nd yr	covered (upto 100% of si)	upto Rs. 1000	2 members	Cashless	2 to 5
	Healthwise- Silver	Renew upto 80 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 2nd yr	not covered	upto Rs. 750		Cashless	2 to 5
	Healthwise - Standard	Renew upto 80 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	upto Rs. 500		Cashless	2 to 5
Royal Sundaram	Health Shield Floater	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 50 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	upto Rs. 1000	Self, Spouse, dependent parents and dependent children	Cashless	1 to 5
Bharti Axa	Smarthealth Basic	Renew upto 75 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	requires additional cover	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless	0.5 to 5
	Smarthealth Premium	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	requires additional cover	covered		Cashless	1 to 5
	Smarthealth Optimum	Renew upto 65 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	requires additional cover	covered		Cashless	1 to 5
Future Generali	Gold	Renew upto 70 yrs	Medical tests required	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless	Not clear from the brochure
Future Generali	Platinum	Renew upto 70 yrs	Medical tests required	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless	Not clear from the brochure
Iffco Tokio	Base Plan	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless	2 to 5
	Wider Plan - Basic	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered		Cashless	2 to 5
	Wider Plan - (Basic + C.I)	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	covered upto 40% of Sum Insured	covered		Cashless	2 to 5
Max Bupa	Heartbeat Silver	Renew Lifelong	No medicals upto 60 yrs, if healthy	after 2 yrs	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered	2 adults and 2 children	Not clear from the brochure	2 to 3
	Heartbeat Gold	Renew Lifelong	Medical tests required	after 2 yrs	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered		Not clear from the brochure	5 to 10
	Heartbeat Platinum	Renew Lifelong	Medical tests required	after 2 yrs	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered		Not clear from the brochure	15 to 50
	Heatbeat gold/platinum	Renew Lifelong	Medical tests required	after 2 yrs	covered after 4th yr	not covered	covered	The complete family including dependent parents, relatives, etc	Not clear from the brochure	3 to 15
ICICI Lombard	Health Insurance	Renew upto 70 yrs	No medicals upto 55 yrs	not covered	covered after 4th yr	not covered	not covered	2 adults and 2 children	Cashless
Apollo Munich	Easy Health Standard	Renew Lifelong	No medicals upto 45 yrs	not covered	covered after 3 yrs	not covered	upto Rs. 2000	Not clear from the brochure	Cashless	1 to 5
	Easy Health Premium	Renew Lifelong	No medicals upto 45 yrs	after 4 yrs	covered after 3 yrs	requires additional cover	upto Rs. 2000		Cashless	3 to 7.5
	Easy Health Exclusive	Renew Lifelong	No medicals upto 45 yrs	after 4 yrs	covered after 3 yrs	requires additional cover	upto Rs. 2000		Cashless	4 to 10
Aegon Religare	Silver	Renew upto 85 yrs	No medicals upto 60 yrs	not covered	not covered	covered	not covered	Dependent on plan - either 2 adults and upto 3 children or 3 adults	Cashless	2 to 5
	Gold	Renew upto 85 yrs	No medicals upto 60 yrs	not covered	not covered	covered	not covered		Cashless	2 to 5
	Diamond	Renew upto 85 yrs	Medical tests required	not covered	not covered	covered	not covered		Cashless	2 to 5
	Platinum	Renew upto 85 yrs	Medical tests required	not covered	not covered	covered	not covered		Cashless	2 to 5