The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) allows policyholders to change their insurers and switch their insurance plans. You can compare health insurance plans and find a suitable plan that meets all your requirements while offering affordable premiums.
Note that you do not lose the accrued benefits of the insurance plans when you switch to another plan. Read on to know everything about the health insurance porting procedure and all the prerequisites associated with this.
Process of porting health insurance plans
Following are the steps you can follow in order to port your existing health insurance policy:
Step 1: To begin the process, you need to pick a new insurance provider. Generally, individuals go for a different insurer to get better benefits and lower premiums. This is why comparing different insurers is essential before you switch.
Step 2: After choosing a new insurance provider, you have to fill up a portability form which you can collect from the selected insurer. Here, you have to provide certain necessary information such as previous claim records, medical history, NCB details, etc.
Step 3: After getting this information, the insurance provider will verify them. The time period for this verification process varies across different insurers. However, it usually takes around 7 to 14 days to get the entire procedure done.
Step 4: Once the verification process is done, the new insurer receives further relevant details through the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) portal from the existing insurer. Such information is sent in a specific or prescribed format to complete the porting of health insurance plans.
After assessing all the information, the new insurer will send the documents for the policy within 15 days. However, to port health insurance plans from one insurer to another, you will need to submit certain documents.
Documents required to port a health insurance policy
The document requirements for this procedure might vary across different insurers. When you compare health insurance plans and insurance aggregators, make sure to go through the requirements section once. This way, you will be prepared with the necessary documents before you go ahead with the insurance porting process. Following is a list of basic documents that most insurance providers look for:
- Declaration document stating that there was no claim made (if applicable)
- Previous medical history, any kind of treatment records along with the copies of pathology reports
- In case there was a claim, the discharge summary related to that investigation along with the reports of follow-ups should be submitted as well
- Insurance renewal notice copy and the schedule of previous year’s health insurance policy
Aspects to consider before porting health insurance plans
Here are some of the crucial factors that you need to keep in mind while switching your health insurance provider:
- Premium and coverage
Most policyholders decide to port their medical insurance policies to lower their premium amount. However, that often leads to a reduction of coverage as well. A lower coverage might not be sufficient to comfortably cover all your medical treatment expenses. Make sure to check both these aspects before you shift to another insurer.
- Waiting period
Generally, three types of waiting periods are available in the case of health insurance policies. When you decide to port your policy, make sure to check which type of waiting period that particular insurer offers.
You can find multiple health insurance policies that offer cashless claim features, a smooth claim process, high CSR, and a lot of other benefits. You can compare across various insurance plans before you arrive at a final decision.
As the healthcare industry has moved to the online world, porting your health insurance policy has become fairly simple. Porting a health insurance policy with a different insurer is an ideal option if you are not satisfied with the benefits or coverage of the policy of your current insurer. However, before doing that, you should keep the aforementioned factors in mind and compare health insurance plans beforehand.