Know | Porting and Migrating your Health Insurance Policy

Unhappy with your current health insurer? You can easily port your insurance to another company.

Health Insurance is as much a financial shield for a customer as it is a service provided by the insurer. And if you are not satisfied by the services provided by your current health insurer for any number of reasons, you can easily port your insurance to another company that suits your needs better. Here, we take a look at the crucial aspects of porting and how to do it.

When should you port to another insurance provider?

You can consider switching insurance companies if you are not satisfied with their claim settlement process, if you need specialised plans that the current policy does not offer, if you find a more comprehensive plan at competitive rates, or if you realise that you are not getting the service you were assured of while purchasing the policy. This choice is completely yours.

What are the terms and conditions of porting?

1) Types of policy and company

An individual as well as a family floater plan can be ported. You can also switch from group health insurance to individual plans. And porting can be done between any general/specialised company to any other general/specialised company. But you should keep in mind that only similar plans can be ported. For example, you can port a basic plan with a basic plan and not to a specialised plan. 

2) Time to port

Porting can be done only during the time your policy is up for renewal. As per IRDAI guidelines, you have to write to your old insurance company requesting a shift 45 days before the date of renewal. You have to specify the company to which you want to shift the policy, and renew your policy without a break, to avail the benefits of porting. You have to provide your new insurer the same 45-day notice and reveal the company you are porting from. The new insurance company will have 15 days to respond to your proposal.

3) New Insurer Can Deny Insurance

Keep in mind that your new insurance company is not bound to accept your application. They can deny covering you following their underwriting norms or they can also ask for a higher premium if they assess higher risk. 

4) Group policy to individual policy

You can opt to switch from group insurance provided by your company to individual cover but only with the same insurer. You can opt to port to another insurer only after a period of one year, after converting your group cover to individual one. This usually happens when you switch jobs and are no longer covered by the company’s group policy. You can make the switch to individual policy to keep the benefits accrued, intact. Keep in mind that you may lose certain benefits of group cover on porting based on the conditions of the new insurer.

5) During porting

You will remain covered during the time it takes to port by your existing policy. If porting takes additional time then the new insurance company can request your old insurer to keep you covered for a period of 30 days. You will have to pay for this short-insurance period on a pro-rata basis. 

You can also choose to revert to your old policy with your old insurer during this time and all your previous benefits/premiums will remain intact. The old insurer cannot impose additional conditions or increase in premiums if you chose to go back.

Also, keep in mind that there are no porting charges to be paid to either insurer.

6) Customisation

Although significant policy changes are not possible, you can customise your new plans to some extent like opting for additional cover, changing nominees, etc.

What are the benefits that get ported to the new plan?

There are some benefits that you previously enjoyed and will continue to enjoy even after porting.

1) Sum Insured

The new sum insured will be determined by adding the previous sum insured and the bonuses accrued in the previous plan.

2) Waiting period

According to IRDAI, “when you change your health insurance policy from one insurance company to another, you don’t have to lose the benefits you have accumulated.” And, your new insurer “shall allow for credit gained by the insured for pre-existing condition(s) in terms of waiting period”

What is Migration and how does it work?

Migration refers to switching of policies with the same insurer. Under migration, an individual policyholder (family in case of a floater plan) can move to an individual health policy, a family floater policy or to a group health policy if they comply with the norms. 

According to IRDAI, “Migration shall be applicable to the extent of the sum insured under the previous policy and the cumulative bonus, if any, acquired from the previous policies.” The policyholder who wishes to migrate has to apply with the insurer, 30 days before the date of policy renewal.

What are the underwriting norms for migration?

  1. For individual policyholders, if you have had the policy for more than 4 years without a break then you would not be subject to any underwriting to the extent of sum insured and the benefits accrued under the previous policy.
  2. For migration from group policy to individual policy, the policy will be subject to underwriting and the decision should be conveyed to the policyholder within 15 days.

OneAssure is a distribution platform that helps you make right decisions on matters where health and finances converge. Visit oneassure.in to know more about your health insurance choices.

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