A family floater is a health insurance plan that extends the coverage to the entire family rather than just an individual. Simply put, a floater brings all the members of the family under an umbrella cover. Being covered under a floater, every family member gets benefits under a larger common pool.

From the perspective of a regular married guy with two kids, it seems only wiser to get a family floater with a sum insured of Rs 4,00,000 rather than taking 4 individual health plans for 4 family members separately.

Individual Health Plans	Family Floater Health Plans
Cost per person	Cost per person
Works well for families with aged individuals, more prone to health risks	Works well for families with younger individuals, less prone to health risks

 

How Family Floater Works?

Mr. Sharma opts for a family floater with a sum insured of Rs 3 lakh. The plan covers him, his spouse and two children. He pays an annual premium of Rs 6,000 on the plan. Let’s consider two possible scenarios:

Scenario 1 – Mr. Sharma’s wife contracts an illness and had to be hospitalized. The total expenses incurred on her treatment turned out to be Rs 2,50,000. The amount gets reimbursed by the insurer.

Scenario 2 – The whole Sharma family contracted severe stomach infection   caused by contaminated drinking water. All the four family members were hospitalized. The total expenses incurred on the treatment turned out to be Rs 4,50,000. The insurance company reimbursed the sum insured in full i.e Rs 3 lakh. Mr. Sharma end up paying the rest of the amount i.e Rs 1.5 lakh out of his own pocket.

Though chances of getting the entire sum insured exhausted within the policy term are thin. Because, the probability of the whole family getting hospitalised within a single term.

Those planning to get their often get confused whether to buy individual policies for each family member or a family floater.

Benefits – Family Floater

The biggest perk of a floater is that the policyholder gets to take care of himself and his entire family under one single policy which is quite obviously easier to manage than managing 4-5 individual plans.

When it comes to getting your parents insured, family floater stands out as a much cheaper option than getting a senior citizen health plan.

Floater is a more lucrative option when it comes to features maternity cover

• Income tax benefits under section 80D
• It is easier to get your immediate family members, spouse or new-borns, added in a floater
• In case of younger families, chances of more than one claim are thin. So the member making the claim can avail of a greater sum insured at a lesser cost.

 What’s Not So Good

• The obvious turn-off in a floater is that in case of more than one claim within an year, the member making the subsequent claim has to do away with a thinned out cover (left out of the amount realized for the first claim)
• Most of the floaters available in the market cover only you, your spouse and your children and exclude even your parents and siblings.
• A family floater plan can only be renewed till the oldest member reaches the maximum renewability age.

 Look Out

•  Maximum renewability age – A while ago, insurers had set the upper cap on entry age from 65 to 75. But now with the intervention of IRDA, most of the insurers offer lifelong renewability.
•  Check the sub-limits – Do not get deluded by the heavy sum insured offered in a health plan. Always check the sub-limits for sub-categories before opting for a plan. For instance, for a specific health cover, sum insured may be Rs 4 lakh, but there could a sub limit of Rs 40,000, say on medicines and Rs 50,000, say on pre and post hospitalization.
• Policy term - Health plans used to be offered as annual policies. But now many insurers offer health plans with two year policy term.
• Reinstatement benefit – This is one of the lesser known benefits of health insurance. Generally, the sum insured on a plan is fixed during a policy term. The insured finds himself in lose-lose proposition if the sum insured is exhausted before the policy term (the chances of which are thicker in family floaters). The reinstatement feature gets the sum insured refilled if it is exhausted before the end of the policy term.
• Value added features – Look out for add-ons such as free healthy check-ups, concierge services, 24 X 7 free medical advice on telephone, discounts on medical stores, health clubs and fitness centers and lots more.

Best Family Floater Plans

Before opting a family floater health insurance plan, one must get and compare quotes from an online insurance portal like Policy Bazaar. Online comparison helps you choose a plan according to specific features and benefits. Here are some family floater plans offering a gamut of

S.No.	Insurer	Product Name	Entry-Exit Age Cap	Sum Assured Limit
1	Max Bupa	Heartbeat	No lower limit – No upper limit	2,00,000 – 50,00,000
2	Star Health	Family Health Optima	5 months – 65 years	1,00,000 – 15,00,000
3	The Oriental Insurance	Happy Family Floater	3 months – No upper limit	1,00,000 – 5,00,000 (Silver) 6,00,000 – 10,00,000 (Gold)
4	Tata AIG	Wellsurance Family	6 months – 65 years	2,00,000 - 4,00,000

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