Individual health plan or family floater? Read on... By SURESH SUGATHAN, BAJAJ ALLIANZ GEN INSURANCE When it comes to deciding on a health insurance plan, there is always a dilemma in choosing from an individual plan and covering the entire family under a single plan. In such a situation, when you want to take care of your family, a family floater acts as the perfect solution. The advantage of a family floater is that it provides comprehensive health coverage for your entire family under a single health insurance policy. How to choose your family floater It is evident that the policy chosen by you should always be one that most specifically meets your health and family’s health requirements. Therefore, an important aspect to consider while opting for a family floater is the coverage that is being offered. In addition to that, it is also advisable to look into some of the other features that the plan comes with. Ideally, a family floater policy should cover hospitalization expenses due to illness or accident, pre and post hospitalization expenses, emergency ambulance charges, cashless facilities at network hospitals, day care expenses, no restriction or sub-limits on room rents and hospitalisation expenses, and income tax benefits under section 80 D. Since a family floater plan comes with feature of several members getting covered under the same policy, it proves to be a benefit for a lot of people, especially, those with large families. Also, in terms of the premium that must be paid, over a period of time, premium rates become more feasible. To understand this better, as an example, consider a family of four members, viz. husband, wife, and two children. You can take a floater policy of say Rs 5 lakh for your entire family. There is no fixed limit of how much of this amount is used for a single-family member. All family members will be covered under a single policy for a single premium. The claim amount during the year is, however, restricted to Rs.5 lacs for all family members put together. Make the most of your family floater Start early: Opting for an insurance plan when you are young is advisable. As you start getting older, the probability of health problems is also higher. Since you have been insured at a younger age, you would be covered for certain ailments/medical conditions that may not be covered if you take health insurance when older. Easy to manage: Another benefit of a family floater is that it is easier to manage since all family members are covered under a single policy. This acts as a great disadvantage since multiple individual policies are difficult to manage in terms of keeping track of renewal dates, etc. Besides that, you can also look into the value added services like discounted health check-ups and services offered by the network hospitals and diagnostic centres. In summation, while deciding on the kind of insurance plan you are choosing, keep in mind that if it is a family with more young members and a low health risk, such as a nuclear family, a family floater plan is the best option to go ahead with. Since the health of such a family would be better, the benefits received from the plan would also be better.