The Health Insurance by Corporates to the employees is seen as a big perk by the employees. In last one decade, it has become a default expectation of the employees and they consider it to be as mandatory offering by a good employer. And yes, it has become a practice and most of the individuals who work in Indian Corporates and MNCs get corporate health cover.
Let’s know about corporate insurance health cover – this plan is a type of health insurance that an organisation provides to its employees.
When compared with personal health cover plans, the corporate Health cover has certain benefits as well as certain limitations.
Let’s have a glance over the benefits of corporate health cover:
- The premium in corporate health cover is relatively low as compared to personal health cover and the coverage can range between 3 to 6 Lakhs.
- Usually, a corporate health insurance plans are designed to provide coverage to employees and directors and their family, however, it provides flexibility to also cover immediate family including Parents, Parents – in -law by paying additional premium, which is borne by the employees or directors.
- Waiver of the waiting period is one of the most important benefits that it corporate cover offers – which is usually a waiting period of two to four years applies to pre-existing diseases in personal health cover. The employees do not have to wait and they get coverage right from the beginning of the policy.
- The Maternity expenses are covered in corporate health cover which is not a part of the personal health cover.
However, all said and done, the personal health cover is a must and let’s understand it through this story –
My friend Sandeep worked with an MNC and had a corporate health cover of Rs.500,000/-. He was 45 years of age and had been enjoying his life with family. One fine day he suffered pain in his chest and he went for the screening to nearby hospital which carried some tests and found that he had suffered a heart attack and two of his arteries were blocked. His angioplasty was carried out and two stents were inserted in arteries.
The cost of entire procedure was Rs.400,000/- which was duly covered in corporate health policy.
One year later, there was recession and Sandeep lost his job. He had no personal health cover. He contacted various health insurance companies for cover for himself and his family. Though his family was eligible for cover as there were no medical history, Sandeep could not find a single insurer who would insure him as now he had an ailment which the insurers do not generally cover.
So what is the recommendation?
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- Don’t be dependent on corporate health insurance. Corporate cover lasts till you are working in that corporate. The moment you leave the corporate world, your health cover ceases. In case of any medical emergency, your finances may turn upside down.
- Personal Health Cover is a very important. Just like you have credit cards and have a credit history, you can build health history with the health insurers. If you have personal health coverage throughout, all preexisting diseases (if any) get covered, and every illness/ disease gets covered. Individuals should prioritize having a health insurance cover once he/she starts earning.
Also, if you have a personal health cover, you get tax rebate in India under section 80 D .So, if the health insurance premium is Rs.24000/- per annum, @ 30% tax slab, one will be able to save Rs.7200/- on tax as well.
Yes, corporate health cover plan should be treated as an additional advantage. Let’s say an individual has both corporate cover Rs.500,000/- and personal family health cover Rs.10,00,000/-, in case the hospitalization treatment exceeds Rs.500,000/-, rest of the amount can be adjusted from Personal health cover.
In the nutshell, whether you have corporate health cover or not, you should have personal health insurance cover to protect not only your & your family’s health, but to safeguard your wealth as well.
