Family Floater Health Insurance

First of all, you should know what exactly family floater health insurance is. As the name suggests, it is a health insurance plan in which your entire family gets cover. The speciality of family floater health insurance is that all the members of the family can be covered under a single policy. Not only this, a sum insured is fixed for the entire family. This entire amount can also be spent on the treatment of any one member of the family and many family members can also use this amount if needed. You can think of it as a locker - the keys of which are with all the members of the family and the money kept in it can be used by one person or all separately. For family floater health insurance, you have to pay a single premium for the entire family.

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Considering the way the cost of health services is increasing, everyone must have a health insurance plan. Now the question arises, why take family floater health insurance? Following are a few of the key features of a family floater health insurance policy:

• Multiple members of the family can be covered in it simultaneously.
• Depending on whether you and your family live in a small town or a big city, your sum insured and the premium would vary. For the same sum insured, the premium for a small city and a large city can be significantly different.
• A person covered in family floater health insurance can avail the facility of cashless treatment at any network hospital.
• If the eldest person in your family is above 60 years of age, you can keep the premium low by opting for co-payment.
• Many pre-existing diseases can also be covered after waiting periods of two, three and five years.

In a family consisting of husband, wife and two children, all can be covered in one family floater health insurance policy. The premium of this insurance is determined according to the age of the eldest person in the family. For example, a family has taken a sum insured of ten lakhs under family floater health insurance. One member of the family falls sick and gets admitted to the hospital and his treatment costs Rs 5 lakh, which is paid by the insurance company. Now, out of the sum insured of 10 lakhs, Rs 5 lakh are left. This amount can be claimed the next time someone in the family, including the person who was sick in the past, falls ill. That is, it is for 10 lakhs and any one person can also use all of it. There is no minimum amount per claim and you can claim as many times as you need in a year equal to your sum insured.

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Family floater health insurance has the following advantages:

• Family floater health insurance is cheaper as compared to taking individual health insurance for each individual member of the family.
• You can easily add new family members to the family floater health insurance policy.
• A high sum insured is available for all the members of the family.
• Cashless facility is available on hospitalization.
• Maternity cover can be available after a certain waiting period. (Read more: Pregnancy)
• You can increase the sum insured at the time of renewing the policy.

The simple answer to this question is that your entire family gets a big sum insured under a single policy, at low premiums. If you have children in your family, then a family floater health insurance plan may be best for you. By taking family floater health insurance, you will also get rid of the hassle of taking separate health insurance policies for each individual. Family floater health insurance offers facilities ranging from pre and post hospitalization to ambulance cover and annual free health checkups.

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In case you have made up your mind to take family floater health insurance, the following are the reasons due to which your premium can be higher or lower:

• Age: Younger people are believed to have fewer health problems, so premiums for a younger person are lower as compared to older individuals. The premium of any policy is decided according to the age of its senior-most member.
• Body Mass Index: The body mass index is calculated according to your weight and height. Having a body mass index within the normal range indicates good health.
• Family medical history: If someone in your family has a serious illness, then it is believed that you may also have that disease in the future, so your premium may be higher.
• Consumption of smoking and alcohol: If you smoke and consume alcohol then it is possible that the insurance company may demand an additional premium.
• Sum insured: Your premium is decided according to the amount you want to insure for your family.
• Riders: Riders are also called add-on covers. If you want some other facilities in your policy (eg, hospital cash, critical illness cover, disability cover) then you will have to pay an additional premium for the same.
• Discount: If you want to pay the premium for two or three years at once, instead of paying per year for your family floater health insurance, then the company may give you a discount.

To buy the best family floater health insurance for your family, consider the following points:

• You should choose a policy that has a minimum waiting period for pre-existing diseases.
• At the time of buying the policy, make sure that you are able to increase the sum insured in the future.
• Choose a policy that you can renew till your maximum age.
• Make sure to see how many hospitals are in the company's network; the more hospitals there are in the network, the more cashless service you will get. Also, make sure that the hospitals near where you live are included in that list.
• While taking a policy, be sure to find out what is not covered in your chosen health insurance policy. Choose a policy for yourself that has the least number of exclusions.

You can also choose myUpchar Bima Plus as a family floater for your family. In this, a cover of up to three lakhs is available at a very low premium.

To be included in the family floater health insurance, the minimum age should be 90 days and at least one person in this policy should be above 18 years of age. As far as the maximum age is concerned, the premium is fixed according to the age of the eldest person at the time of taking the policy. In many companies, a new policy is not given to a person above 65 years of age. However, if you have already taken the policy, then the insurance companies keep renewing it.

(Read more: What is not covered in health insurance)

Insurance companies design different family floaters for different types of families and you can design a family floater for your family as per your needs. Apart from adding additional members, you can add many riders such as OPD cover, critical illness, hospital cash etc. You can also reduce the waiting period for pre-existing diseases. However, you will have to pay an additional premium for designing a family floater as per your choice.

The average family consists of a husband, wife and two children. If you are taking family floater health insurance for your family then you can also include your parents in it. Many companies also offer the option of adding parents-in-law and siblings to the family floater health insurance plan. If you have more than two children, you can also add them to this policy. But keep in mind, you will have to pay an extra premium for all of these additions.

(Read more: What is the difference between health insurance and life insurance)