Switching Job? You can convert your Employer’s Health Insurance to an Individual Health Plan

A group health insurance policy by your employer is also called ‘corporate health insurance’ or an ‘employer’s health insurance’. Your employer or the organization pays the health insurance premium towards these insurance policies.

For this reason, they are one of the most popular health insurance options for employees. And some of you may wonder if the policy benefits of the group health cover can be transferred to an individual cover after a job change?

As per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) regulations, an employee covered under a corporate health insurance policy can migrate to an individual health insurance policy. This can be done if the insured employee switches to another job or loses the job and wants to continue getting health insurance benefits.

The individual will need to complete some formalities as listed by the insurer and can also avail of the waiting period benefits accrued from the ongoing employer’s medical insurance policy.

The acceptance of the health insurance policy conversion, though, depends on the insurer. The insurance company holds the full right to decide the terms and conditions of the new health insurance scheme along with the premium amount.

Typically, to initiate the conversion process, policyholders need to first inform the current group insurance company. And in case of job loss, the policyholder would need to get in touch with the company’s admin or the HR department to know the porting process in detail.

The desire to port from a group health insurance plan to an individual health insurance policy should apply around 30 days before the last employment date. As per the rules, the insured employee should inform the insurer before leaving the company.

Or this needs to be done within 5 days of the date of termination of group policy to issue a new retail health plan to cover up the policy coverage amount, on paying the premium in full for the new individual health plan.

The new retail policy is issued as per the insurance company’s underwriting requirements, at the time of policy issuance. In some cases, the insurer might ask for pre-medical checkup reports and then issue the policy.

Long story short

If you are insured under your employer’s health insurance policy then you can buy a separate health plan to be able to pay for the increasing cost of healthcare expenses. On the other hand, if you do not have an individual health cover, as per the IRDAI regulations you can now convert your corporate health plan to an individual health plan and avail the coverage benefits.