How to Cover Parents in Group Health Insurance?


Summary

It is important to know whether the group mediclaim policy for parents is available in your organization. Parents' health insurance premiums would depend on the age of the parents and the coverage required. Parents can be added at any point of time during the policy period. The premium can be paid by the employer or the employee.

Cover your parents in group health insurance

A group health insurance plan provides medical coverage for a group of members insured under a single health insurance policy. A group health insurance policy is usually taken by an employer for their employees in an organization.

The premium under the group health insurance policy is paid by the employer and in some cases, a part of the premium or full premium is paid by the members.

The income tax act lets members of a group health insurance plan get a tax break on the premiums they pay. A part of the premium paid or the complete premium paid would be eligible for income tax exemption under the income tax act. ‘

Group health insurance is a customized health insurance plan in which the customer can select the benefits as per their needs and requirements.

A group health insurance policy can cover the employees, spouse, children, parents or parents in law and other dependents as per the definition in the group health insurance policy.

Group health insurance policies are usually taken by organizations to cover their employees and, in a few cases, immediate families such as spouses and children. There are a few organizations that offer group health insurance for the parents and parents-in-law of the employees in the group health insurance policy.


Let us understand how to cover parents in a group health insurance policy:-

Employer-Employee Group Health insurance:

Group health insurance can be taken if there is an employer-employee relationship or a non-employee relationship.

The best example of an employee-employer relationship is organizations taking group insurance for their employees whereas the best example of non Employee employer relationship is associations such as housing societies etc.

The employer employee group health insurance policy is a master health policy which is issued in the name of the employer i.e. organization. The premium can be paid by the employer or the employee as per the understanding and the rules of the organization.

Even though the premium is paid by the organization in some cases, the claim would be settled to the insured directly in case of hospitalization. The group mediclaim policy for parents can cover the parents in the same group health insurance policy as that of the employee.

Insurance companies provide health cards in physical or electronic form to the members of the group health insurance policy so that they can show the cards at the time of hospitalization. The health cards would suffice as proof of health insurance coverage.

Health cards carry the employee code and other details of the insured member which would be cross verified at the time of claim settlement.

Procedure to Cover Parents in GHI:

  • The procedure to add or cover parents in a group health insurance policy is mentioned below:-
  • At first, the employee needs to get in touch with the HR/ Admin of the organization to understand the terms and conditions of the group health insurance policy. It is important to know whether the group mediclaim policy for parents is available in your organization.

    If the policy is taken with parents included in the starting stage itself, then it would be possible for the employees to cover their parents.
  • If the parents can be covered under the group health insurance policy, then the next thing is to check the premium to be paid. There would be a couple of sum insured options from which the employee can select the required option and the premium for it would be available with the insurance company.

    Parents’ health insurance premiums would depend on the age of the parents and the coverage required.
  • The premium can be paid to the insurance company by the employer or the employee depending on the agreement between the employer and employee in the organization. Parents can be added at any point of time during the policy period.

    If the parents are to be added after the inception of the group health insurance policy, then a pro rata premium would be charged by the insurance company for the remaining number of days.
  • Once the parents are added to the group health insurance policy they would receive a health card with all their details. This health card can be utilized to make cashless claims at the time of hospitalization.

    The health card can also be utilized to make reimbursement claims in case of the absence of a cashless facility.
  • There is an option to have an extra sum insured for parents as well as the members and their families. Parents and the other members of the group health insurance policy can utilize this sum insured in case of exhaustion of the basic sum insured.

If you are a company or an organization and looking to add parents of your employees in the group health insurance policy then please book a call with Ethika insurance to get advice from our health insurance experts.

The best group health insurance for parents can be availed online from Ethika insurance broking at affordable premiums.

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Susheel Agarwal

Namaste. I'm Abhinay Nedunuru, a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India with a passion to make insurance simple and crisp. I write on insurance and investment. I have a passion for teaching and training in particular to insurance. I'm currently doing my PhD from IIM in Management.