Things to consider before buying Group Health Insurance policy for employees in India

Group health insurance is a type of insurance policy that is purchased by companies for their employees’ healthcare. The benefits which are offered in the group health insurance policy are equal for all the employees of a company. Apart from covering the employees, it also protects the family members of an employee by providing the financial aid in the times of an unfortunate medical emergency.  

How does group health insurance work? 

An organization generally chooses their health insurance provider as per their needs to cover their employees under a group health insurance plan. The premium is paid by the company itself in most of the cases and offered to employees as a healthcare benefit.  

This group health insurance policy for employees in India provided by the organization covers all the employees under healthcare expenses like pre- and post-hospitalization expenses, daycare procedures, ambulance charges etc.  

In the case of claims, the process of group health insurance has become simple and quick in the modern times. The claim is settled in a speedy and hassle-free manner. The employee requires raising a claim request during the time of a medical emergency and show their health card to initiate the claims process.  

What is the purpose of group health insurance policy for employees in India? 

The main purpose of providing group health insurance policy to employees is to increase the employee retention rate in an organization. As health is the most important factor to take care of to survive, when an employer provides such health benefit to their employees, it boosts team morale.  

Apart from this, providing such health policy also helps enhance company’s expansion, growth and team productivity. Most of the companies offer group health insurance to offer their employees a full-time protection to prevent financial loss and help in their time of medical needs and emergencies.   

Now, here is one question that arises in the mind of every employer. Is it mandatory to provide group health insurance policy for employees in India?   

The fact is, the government of India, issued as part of their consolidated revised guidelines by ministry of home affairs, made it mandatory for all employers, who wish to continue functioning post COVID-19 lockdown in the country, to provide health insurance policy to their employees.  

We encourage every employer to provide such health facility to their employees as per the benefits we discussed before as well i.e. employee retention, productivity, organization growth, team morale, financial aid and so on.  

Things to consider before buying a group health insurance policy for your employees 

Before spending our hard-earned money on anything, we need to look at some factors before buying them, including a group health insurance policy too. Here are a few rules for offering health insurance to employees that you should consider before getting one. 

 

Claim Process  

In a health insurance policy, the simpler and the faster the claims process is, the better it is for the insured.  Therefore, quick and fast claims settlement is a very important factor to look into when it comes to selecting the right policy for employees. Also, do confirm if your health insurance policy also provides good customer support while dealing with the claims process. It is an additional advantage one should look for. 

Pre/post-hospitalization 

It is critical to choose a health insurance provider which covers hospitalization expenses, occurring in a cycle. For instance, a person visits the doctor, gets medicines, undergoes tests before getting hospitalized. Then they get hospitalized, and some expenses occur post-hospitalization to while following up with the doctor and consuming medicines for recovery. Such charges of this entire cycle should be covered under the health insurance policy you choose.  

Look out for premiums 

While choosing a health insurance policy, an employee should not really compromise with an important benefit that a particular policy provides as per the premiums they choose. It is absolutely fine to look for low premiums to prevent extra cost, but also it is necessary to make sure that all the useful benefits that your health insurance policy offers, are retained. 

Family Health Insurance 

Before purchasing the health insurance plan for your employees, make sure that your provider also gives you or your employee an option to add their family members to the health insurance policy through personal purchase. As, medical emergency can happen to anyone and not just your employee, in their personal life. So, check with your employees about the status of health insurance for their families.  

Network hospitals 

It is critical to check if your insurance provider has a good network of cashless hospitals. During a medical emergency, the hospitals also offer a cashless option – as the staff directly settles the bills with the insurer. It is useful in times when someone is not willing to disturb their savings or doesn’t have access to loads of money to pay for the treatment before getting it reimbursed. 

Lifetime Renewal 

Make sure that the health insurance policy that you opt for has lifetime renewability. It is better to stick to one trusted health insurance provider with all the necessary benefits that your employees need, unless you get something better from the other. A health policy that offers lifetime renewability is what you should buy.  

Maternity benefits 

With the increasing inflation rate, pregnancy costs have been rising as well. It is important for an organization to buy health insurance for their women workforce that offers maternity benefits. You can read here to know more about if you should really add maternity benefits to your insurance policy or not. However, this health insurance policy for women should also cover outpatient expenses, and it is necessary to check for exclusions related to the policy. 

Buy Policy Online 

Modern problems require modern solutions with the digitization in healthcare. Buying a group health insurance policy online can help save a lot of money as it excludes the agent’s fee. It is suggested to purchase a group health insurance policy online which saves your time and money. Apart from that, it also helps you stay away from the hassle that you’d have to go through while buying a health insurance policy offline. It is a paperless, easy, and 2 minutes process. 

Medical Check-ups 

You should look for a policy that insures the person for a couple of free medical and health checkups as an extra benefit apart from just insurance. As healthcare is not just about dealing with a medical emergency but also taking care of our overall health. 

The Bottom Line 

As we discussed, always keep a check on these factors before buying a group health insurance policy for employees in India.  

Apart from health insurance, there is even more that you can add to the healthcare plan that you provide to your employees to add the essence of comprehensiveness to it even at an affordable price which is possible with Onsurity.  

Onsurity’s healthcare membership is packed with all the health benefits that every employee looks forward to having for their health and safety like group health/term life insurance, doctor teleconsultations, fitness webinars, discounted health checkups, and medicine orders delivered at the doorstep.  

So, you just need to opt for Onsurity’s healthcare membership for your start-up and focus on making the big picture a reality. Contact us at partners@onsurity.com or visit our website to get an instant quote.