Insurance is no doubt a very important part of our lives. By being insured, we feel secure in our daily routine. Specifically, if we talk about health insurance, it forms a large pie in the overall insurance market in India. As a customer , one is having options of both individual health insurance that one can buy for him and his family and also of Group Health insurance which the organization buys for him.

I believe a common man today is more concerned about his or her health and family members than what it used to be a decade or two earlier. The other reason for this upward trend is the entry of private insurance companies since the last decade. and with this people are having plenty of options to choose from.

But when it comes to buying health insurance, and given options of Group versus an individual, which of the two should one consider buying. It is the case that the former is better than the latter or should one buy both. Surely, this is the point of confusion in the minds of lots of customers.

One should have a long term perspective in mind while making a decision in buying health insurance. It is believed that usually, the premium for a Group Health insurance would be less than that of an individual health plan. Not only this, there are several other differences as well.

When Individual Health Insurance is Beneficial

It’s not a wise decision to break your personal insurance policy just because one is getting better policy benefits from his or her organization. In a situation like this, one should not look after how money is being saved, rather the continuation of the policy matters a lot rather than completely stopping in case it has been some years for personal policy.

One has the option to avail top-up facility in both in individual health insurance and group health Insurance.  While in individual, it’s your decision and can be taken by paying extra premium while in Group Health Insurance,  a top-up plan or corporate buffer plan is not always availed as it is left to the decision making at the management level.

While there are cases where employees may not be very stable with the new company, so in that kind of situation, one should think properly before enrolling in Group health insurance because its a rule that once the employee leaves the organization. his or her policy term is over.

And When is Group Health Insurance is Beneficial

We have also seen cases, where insurance companies deny to cover people with certain diseases or due to financial constraints, in this case, employee can ask his organization HR to cover him and his family in the company’s health insurance plan as it is not as hard to get enrolled in that as compared to personal health insurance in situation like above.

Another important point that should not be missed is if one is getting the opportunity to cover parents in the company’s health plan, in ideal situation one should look forward to this as maximum time claims arise for parents. As with this, the cost utilized will be comparatively less than an individual health plan for parents. The difference amount can vary from person to person however its likely that some difference will be there.

And how much is Health Insurance Premium Dependent on Claims

An important thing for individual health insurance is that the amount to be paid next year will be dependent on one’s own claims taken in the current year rather than other decision of taking a claim in Group Health insurance. If the claim ratio is bad in latter which may not be due to you but someone else, then also your overall premium shoots up the next year.

In individual health insurance, if one doesn’t have a claim in the current year, it’s a big advantage for the next year as benefits like no claims bonus can be availed either in the form of premium reduction or sum insured increase.

So, in the end, I would like to summarize this by saying though Group Health insurance has lot of benefit s as compared to an individual health plan, one should also consider individual plan while foreseeing the long-term plan.