Nobody likes falling sick but that’s not in anyone’s hands. Many need healthcare at a point in time and require falling on adequate health insurance coverage for financial assistance. So, it is important to remain insured every time and renew your Mediclaim policy on or by the due date.
Many health insurance covers are valid for just a year and you as a policyholder must renew the same the next year by the end of the health policy period. To those, who are unable to renew their health insurance on time, insurance companies ensure to provide a second chance called the grace tenure or period for renewing your health coverage. So, the health insurance renewal grace time-period is the additional time a policyholder gets to make the payment of the premium and continue with making most of the benefits available on the health coverage without any break.
The grace period in the case of a health insurance renewal policy generally may range anywhere between a week and thirty days. The grace time period for health insurance coverage is like the lifeline. In the case you fail to make the payment of your premium by the grace time period, your policy term expires, and you tend to lose out on all features and benefits along with loyalty points and privileges you acquired over the time period. You must not confuse the medical health insurance grace time period with waiting time period. The waiting time period is when the new policyholders must wait before availing the benefits of a medical insurance policy. The claims filed in the course of such periods are often turned down.
Are the waiting time period and grace time period in medical insurance cover the same?
No, as mentioned above, your medical insurance grace time period is distinct from your insurance waiting timeframe. In the case of any waiting period, you require waiting for a specific duration before you file the medical insurance claim for the process or disease. In contrast, the grace time period endows you an additional number of days by which you must make payment of your medical insurance renewal premium even post your due date is over.
For example, if your health insurance policy renewal premium is due on the 1st of Jan 2023, then you can make the payment of your premium by the 31st of Jan 2023 in the case of a grace period of thirty days. In the case you fail to make such payments before the next month, then your health insurance policy may lapse, and your insurance company may deny your request for renewal even if you are looking to renew on a later date.
Privileges and benefits you tend to lose out –
You are without any insurance coverage –
One of the drawbacks of not renewing your medical policy during the medical insurance grace time period is that you get left without any coverage. The lapsed health policy does not offer you insurance coverage and benefit. Given the rising expense of medical expenses and hospitalisation, it is unwise to stay without any insurance coverage even for a single day.
You lose out on your no-claim bonus or NCB –
NCB available in a health insurance policy is one of the most important features of a health policy. It is an incentive that insurance companies endow on you as a customer who claims no coverage in a year. It is provided either as a discount in a premium or a cumulative bonus. A cumulative bonus infers your cover amount for the upcoming years would enhance based on your bonus while your premium would stay the same.
In the case, your medical policy equals Rs 4 lakh and your insurer has provided you with a bonus equaling Rs 25,000 in a year, then your overall cover amount in your health insurance policy would be up to Rs 4.25 lakh for the next year.
Policy portability –
In the case you let your health insurance cover lapse, then you lose out on the facility of porting the same to a new insurer. If you are eyeing to port your plan, then you must do so at least 45 to 60 days before an insurance policy’s expiry date.
New insurance policies become costly –
A new health policy would become costly because the cost of health policy rises with the increase in your age.
Higher waiting period –
Health insurance policies come with a waiting period of anywhere between 24 and 48 months applicable to a specific preexisting condition along with maternity benefits. With a new plan, you require waiting for another couple of years before you begin using such facilities.
Medical check-up again –
You might require going through a detailed medical check-up to avail a new health policy. This healthcare test is nothing but a time-straining procedure, besides, what if you fail such a medical assessment? However, in the case of a renewal process for your health insurance policy, you do not require undergoing a medical check-up again.
Ending note –
Staying uninsured is not a good choice. It is not a prudent decision to stay without medical insurance even for a specific day. Suppose you are unsatisfied with your prevailing medical insurance policy or the insurer, then in this case, you may consider switching your insurance plan without losing out on your benefits, bonus points and privileges of your prevailing policy to another plan. As per IRDA regulations, your new insurer must make sure that the advantages you enjoyed as well as the privileges you earned with your past insurer are retained when switching over.
You may also switch from one policy plan to another policy plan with the same insurance company. However, you must follow specific conditions if you are looking to port your insurance policy. You might do so by writing to your prevailing insurer regarding your desire to switch insurance policy plans at least forty-five days before the renewal of the insurance policy is due. In this way, you may be able to renew your insurance policy without any break as you get the grace time period in the medical insurance plan of thirty days if your porting is under process.
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