Decoding Porting of Health Insurance

 IRDAI allows porting of health insurance from one company to another company. Proper guidelines have been laid by IRDAI which have to be followed by the companies, intermediaries and insured. This was a very big game changer in the field of Health Insurance as a result of which customers got a chance of shifting to a better policy as per wish. Earlier this was not possible, and insured was forced to be stuck to the same Insurance Company or shift to another company but would have to serve the waiting period.

Porting has been disadvantageous to companies who had inferior policies or who were not able to service the claims properly and give hassle free claim settlement. I would say this has wholly benefited the Private companies as a major chunk of PSU health insurances were ported to Private players. The private Insurance companies were able to grow their health Insurance portfolio because of porting but at the same time customers were also able to move to better products and get better claim assistance. The monopoly of the PSU's technically came to an end with this move of IRDAI.

Porting is as simple as changing your mobile number operator. You submit your policies, and the new company will do the remaining work and the policy is ported with continuation benefit.

Sometimes people also end up porting from a good policy to an inferior policy, falling in the trap set up by half educated Agents or call centre people. We have observed this many times that people get lured to a company with a poor claim settlement.

There a lot of confusion in India regarding porting as rumours and myths are spread by old agents who do not wish that their customers shift to a better policy with good customer-oriented claim settlement and features.

Whenever a new health insurance is purchased or sum insured is enhanced, waiting periods are applicable on the new sum insured/ enhanced sum insured only. But if a customer has a policy and he/she is porting the policy to another company, then waiting period is waived off as the same has already been served in the previous policy. This is the concept of Porting.

Myths regarding porting

• Claims are not payable as waiting period will be applicable- This is totally wrong; claims are payable from day 1 without any waiting period provided the waiting periods have been served in the existing old policy. Good companies pay the claim without asking many questions, but some small companies don't settle the claim linking it too as pre-existing disease. We will recommend shifting to a better company's policy only. 
• Disclosures need not be given as new company will fetch / cover all disclosures/ claim history from previous policy - This is a wrong concept; new company doesn't fetch any details, and this is the reason when you port the policy you are supposed to disclose everything irrespective whether it was disclosed in the old policy or not.
• Old people shouldn't port their policies - This is totally a wrong thing spread by agents and so-called relatives. People can port their policies at any age and the claim doesn't matter because of age.
• Already filled and pending claims will not be payable - many people feel that if they port the policy to a new company then the old company will not settle the claim in the old policy if pending, this is wrong as the old company has to settle the claim as claim occurred during the old policy period and claim team doesn't have knowledge of the renewal.
• Old agent and company will come to know- When you port the policy neither the old Insurance company nor the agent comes to know of the same. It is quote confidential and secretive and this is the reason after policy porting also the old company keeps reminding you to renew the policy

Advantages

• Option to laterally shift to a better product without any waiting period
• Option to upgrade the sum insured as many times the existing company doesn't allow you to increase the sum insured but new company offers a higher sum insured
• Better claim settlement if you move to a better company

Disadvantages

• You just lose out on the accrued no claim bonus, but this won't matter much if you are increasing your sum insured or moving to a better policy.

Porting Process

• Choose the correct advisor to get proper advice and do not be a victim of substandard products and to enjoy hassle free claim settlement
• Choose the right sum insured
• Submit the previous policy copies
• Make proper disclosures to the new company
• Make the payment (Please note payment has to be made before expiry of the current policy but very few companies also allow you to port after the expiry)
• Wait for the policy copy
• After policy is issued make sure waiting periods are waived off and you get continuation benefits.

We support the IRDAI's initiative to allow porting and making the process as simple as porting your mobile number from one operator to another.

In case of any doubts, please feel free to mail us on eaststarinsurance@gmail.com .

Buying and selling Insurance looks easy but choosing the correct policy is definitely not easy.