How to port from corporate health insurance to individual employee insurance?

How to Port From Corporate Plan to Individual Plan?

Here is a step-by-step process on how to convert corporate health insurance to individual insurance:

Inform Your Employer at least 45 Days Before

You must notify your employer at least 45 days before porting your corporate insurance into an individual policy. This will ensure that you are eligible for porting.

Discuss With Your Existing Insurer

The next step will be to consult directly with your current insurer and have a one-on-one discussion regarding the migration of your policy. If you cannot consult your insurer directly, you need to ask the HR department for migration options.

Choose The Plan

Choosing the plan is the next step. You need to find the appropriate plan options and check the coverage to see if it covers your diagnosed diseases. If you have any critical illnesses, check whether the new plan covers your critical illness appropriately.

Decide On The Riders

Choose the riders to increase your coverage benefit. For example, you can choose a critical illness rider to get covered against major critical diseases. The benefit of opting for rider benefits is that you get a lump sum coverage when you are diagnosed with a critical illness.

Submit a port request

Submit a formal request to the insurer or apply online on the insurer’s portal. You can submit your request through your HR department or the broker. Apart from that, you need to submit your current corporate policy number, your identity details, and your employee ID.

Undergo Required Medical Tests

If you're older or have health conditions, the insurer may ask for tests. Submit the diagnosis report promptly with relevant prescriptions attached.

Underwriting and premium calculation

When you port to an individual policy from a corporate policy, your insurer assesses your risk based on your age, sum insured, and history of past claims. The insurer then underwrites and assesses the premium amount, which will depend on the coverage and riders you have chosen.

Can We Convert Corporate Health Insurance To Individual Plans?

The specific answer to this question is, yes, you can convert corporate insurance to individual policy as per IRDAI regulations. Here is a summary of the regulation: IRDAI Regulation 17(iv), Clause 16 of Schedule I states that all indemnity insurance policies can be ported to individual insurance policies or family floater policies. The regulation directly means that insurers can port their policies to any insurer, given that the policyholder respects the specific terms and conditions of the policy.

While many Indian companies provide group health insurance on a family floater basis to their employees, the policy usually expires after the employee leaves the organization. An employee has complete discretion to migrate the policy into an individual or family floater policy without letting it discontinue.

Read also critical illness insurance, its meaning and coverage.

When Should One Consider Porting to an Individual Plan?

One should consider the option to convert corporate health insurance to individual plans only when they face certain specific cases. These cases can be loss of your job, or lowering your coverage, or even when you are diagnosed with a new critical illness that requires a complete underwriting of your policy. Let’s discuss all of these individually.

Exiting your job

Most people convert corporate insurance to an individual policy when they exit jobs. If your organization has provided you with group health insurance, then switching companies or being laid off can lead to porting to a new policy.

Read also how to manage corporate health insurance premiums after being laid off.

Exploring Larger Coverage Option

While most corporate insurance policies offer coverage for critical illness, some insurers may not cover specific diseases, too. If you find a different insurer that would cover these specific disorders, you can consider migrating to that insurer.

Looking for Customized Coverage

After porting to an individual policy, you can get specific health coverage, which is usually not provided in a corporate health insurance plan. An individual policy offers customized coverage options where you can choose additional riders and add-ons to cover specific diseases you may have.

Making a Long-term Career Plan

Many employees ask can we convert corporate health insurance to individual plans if we switch to freelancing from a full-time job? You can, as when you leave the company, your corporate insurance ends. Porting your corporate insurance to individual insurance can help you save and gain stability.

Discovered New Health Issues

If you or your family have been recently diagnosed with new health issues, you may look at how to convert corporate health insurance to individual insurance. If your current corporate plan does not cover your newly diagnosed health problem, porting to an individual insurance with better coverage remains the only option.

Do Premiums Stay the Same When You Port It?

Premiums do not usually stay the same when you port your corporate policy into an individual health insurance. Corporate policies generally assess common critical illnesses and choose appropriate group health coverage. Moreover, because the policy covers all of the employees in the organization, the risk is pooled, and premiums are lower. Those who ask if we can convert corporate health insurance to individual, the answer also includes checking the premium amount after porting. Factors such as age, individual history of diseases, and claim history all impact the premium.

Reasons for the Increase in Premium

The premium price can increase for multiple reasons:

Corporate Insurance and Individual Policy Are Composed Differently

There are certain differences in how a corporate health insurance policy is designed, as compared to an individual insurance. Corporate health insurance aims at providing group cover for the employees, while individual policies are designed to meet personal health coverage. This affects the pricing structure too, given that corporate policies have a different objective than individual policies.

Policyholder has Chronic Conditions

If the policyholder has chronic conditions like diabetes or hypertension, then the premium price is likely to increase after porting. The reason for this is that people with chronic diseases are more likely to get hospitalized, and hence claim insurance coverage. Insurers usually assess the risk to be high and underwrite a higher premium value.

Higher Age of Policyholder

If the age of the policyholder is higher, after porting to a new policy, the premium can be high. Insurance premiums are dependent on factors such as age and the health condition of the policyholder. Older age usually increases health risks, which can increase the premium after porting.

Opting For Critical Illness Rider

After porting to an individual policy from a corporate one, many times employees opt for a critical illness rider. This is usual in case the employee is an aged individual or has been diagnosed with a critical illness recently. A rider add-on can also increase the premium by providing additional coverage.

The greatest advantage of porting is that you retain the continuity benefits of the policy and do not have to undergo the waiting period. The waiting period of your existing policy will be carried forward to your next policy once you port to a new insurance coverage.

Read also what FNF is, its full form, and meaning.

Example To Understand

Hitesh, aged 38, used to work as a graphic designer for a Pune-based marketing agency. His company offered him a ₹5 lakh corporate insurance on a family floater basis.

After 3 years, Hitesh decided to resign from the company. Worried about losing the coverage, he decided to convert corporate insurance to individual health insurance. The insurer revised the premium based on the health coverage and add-ons that Hitesh had opted for. Because Hitesh applied for porting to an individual plan 45 days before, he did not have to face a waiting period and got complete coverage.

This move ensured that his family kept full benefits, including maternity and coverage for pre-existing health conditions.

Benefits of Converting From Corporate Insurance to Individual Insurance

We have answered how to convert corporate health insurance to individual policy previously. Let’s now know the main benefits of porting your corporate cover.

Continuity without gaps

When you port within 45 days, your coverage status stays continuous, and you do not have to face a waiting period. The waiting period gets counted from the previous policy in case you are porting within 45 days, which is an added advantage.

Higher sum insured

You can get coverage for more personalized benefits, such as covering surgeries and vaccinations. Corporate health insurance does not cover specific diseases, which are covered by an individual policy. You can opt for additional riders like critical illness, outpatient (OPD), and annual health check‑ups, too.

Ownership

Individual policies are not tied to employers. You can change rider benefits and also opt to migrate to a different cover as per the terms of your insurer. Individual policies stay with you throughout your life, regardless of job changes.

Flexibility in underwriting

Individual policies allow customization according to health preferences. Moreover, there is a higher scope of negotiation in the case of individual policies. You can opt to adjust for deductibles, co‑pays, and even rider combinations as your budget fits.

Read also what is incurred claim ratio, and how to calculate it.

Factors That Impact Your Porting

When you are asking how smoothly I can convert corporate health insurance to individual, there are several factors to look at. These are:

Notifying the Insurer Early

You need to notify your insurer or your employer at least 45 days before leaving the organization. This will ensure that you do not have to encounter waiting periods, and a smooth transition takes place.

Previous Claims history

Your past claims history also matters to a great extent. If you’ve made multiple or high-value claims in the past, insurers may likely port your policy with a higher premium.

Age and health

If the employee porting to an individual policy is aged above 65, porting will likely require some time. The insurer may first ask for diagnosis reports and health statements to underwrite the policy and revise the premium. Some plans even have age restrictions, which you need to discuss with your insurer.

Rider additions

Choosing critical illness, OPD, or daycare riders may help overall protection, but also increase premiums. First, check your family’s needs, understand the likely coverage requirements, and then proceed to see which add-ons are needed.

Conclusion

This blog answered the question of how to convert corporate health insurance to individual policy. The step-by-step process starts with first informing the insurer 45 days before, and submitting all the necessary documents related to the health crisis. According to IRDAI regulations, you can port a corporate policy into an individual policy, and even into a family floater one, too. Porting your insurance can lower premiums and also help you select specific coverages. If you are an employee and decide to port to an individual policy, you need to contact your employer beforehand for a smooth port-in.

Choosing the right employee plan is less a corporate decision than a strategic plan. At Covrzy, we consider factors such as team size, medical history, and coverage requirements to choose the perfect plan for you. Call us at +91 9354963947 and get a free 1-1 discussion with our IRDAI-licensed advisor today.