Why Employer Health Insurance is not Enough?

Getting an offer letter from a good company comes with several benefits. An employee health insurance policy is a part of the many perquisites offered by the company at the time of joining. The health insurance for employees may cover the medical expenses of an employee’s family members as well. However, if you think your company’s health insurance is enough to protect you from any medical expenses, then you are clearly mistaken. When you compare these health insurance plans for corporate employees with other plans, you will see several loopholes. Most of these policies provide bare-minimum coverage and have many limiting aspects. Companies try to minimize their costs and protect their money. Even though they provide health insurance as a part of their employee benefits, they try their best not to pay what they promised. This is done by using several tactics and clauses that nullify their liability. This puts you in a tight spot where you have to pay for all the expenses incurred in the case of hospitalization. If you take a look at any private hospital that provides good patient care, they have a long list of things added to their medical bill, including doctor’s medical protection gear, medicines, bed charges, and so on. In such cases, it's important to compare the benefits of your company’s medical insurance with those of private health insurance.

Here are some of the loopholes in employee health schemes provided by the companies that you may have overlooked:

Employee Status

The employee health scheme is valid as long as you are employed with the company. In the case of a job change or you quitting the organization, this policy is terminated with immediate effect. This is a limitation of relying on your employer to pay your medical bills in the event of an emergency.

In the unfortunate case of a medical emergency when you have no medical cover, the burden of paying hefty medical bills lies on your shoulder. Therefore, it is recommended to have an individual health insurance policy other than the one provided by your employer.

Limited Coverage

Medical expenses are sky-high in recent times. From hospital bed rates to doctor consultation charges, everything is expensive. In such a scenario, a bare minimum medical cover of 2-3 lacs is not enough. Most private companies do not provide sufficient cover for the health insurance of their employees.

They even include a co-pay clause that barely lightens the burden of medical expenses rather than taking full responsibility for the employee's well-being. Another loophole in the health insurance provided by companies to their employees is the limited room rent coverage. This means that your room rent will be covered up to a certain amount.

Change in Policy/ End Policy Cover

Remember, health insurance for employees is a perk provided by the company that is not mandatory. The management can remove these benefits by revising the clause at any point in time. This opens the door of uncertainty and financial liability on your end. The employer may also ask you to pay a health insurance premium discontinue the policy altogether. Furthermore, there is a possibility of removal of certain types of medical coverage or clauses that don’t cover pre-existing medical conditions.

It is always better to not be in such a situation and take charge of your wellbeing. Muthoot Finance Health Insurance has you covered in case of a medical emergency. You can opt for individual or family health insurance to protect yourself and your loved ones from any unexpected medical expenses.

Group Insurance

The group medical insurance covers only employees’ medical expense and not their dependents. This means that the employer is not liable for any medical expenses incurred if your family member is hospitalized. Most companies provide group health insurance policies to save extra costs. Furthermore, these group policies do not cover much. You may claim 20–30% of the entire expenditure in the case of hospitalization.

It is always important to have medical insurance for your entire family. Family medical insurance is much better when it comes to protecting your family from all odds. It is also cheaper and provides a large sum of coverage that ensures no financial burden. In the case of hospitalization, you will have to pay little or no amount.

Post-Retirement Coverage

As discussed earlier, the company’s health insurance coverage is valid till the end of your employment period. You will not get any health insurance coverage from the company post-retirement. We are most likely to fall ill or need medical insurance in our old age, and this is when your employer stops providing medical cover post-retirement.

Getting individual health insurance after a certain age requires several medical tests. In the case of "pre-existing medical conditions", the new medical policy does not cover your expenses. Getting health insurance at a young age that extends beyond your retirement age is a smart option.

All these loopholes in the medical cover provided by the company indicate that you should only consider the company’s medical insurance as a secondary cover in case your individual medical cover runs out.

Benefits of getting individual or family health insurance

• Better medical coverage

• Tax benefits for buying a medical insurance

• Covers all the major and regular illness

• Cumulative or no claim bonus

• Quick claim settlement

Muthoot Finance provides individual and family health insurance that covers all your medical needs at the time of hospitalization. You do not need to worry about the well-being of your family members or yourself as our medical insurance policy has it all covered. Visit the nearest Muthoot Finance branch to speak to our experts.