Employees get coverage from employers as a mandatory component of their employment package. However, the majority of them do not pay attention to the pros and cons of such health insurance plans as they do not have much say on the selection of its terms and conditions.
However, it doesn’t mean that an employee should not consider the terms and conditions of such a plan. After all, a major part of their salary goes into financing its premium, albeit for limited coverage.
By analysing the pros and cons of your employer’s insurance policy from your employer, you can help make an informed choice which will benefit you in the true sense of the term.
When you come to think of what you pay for and what you get in return, it boils down to the payment of premium every month with limited benefits. It may not be sufficient for your insurance needs. Read on to find out what you can do to overcome the shortcomings of your employer’s health insurance policy.
Company health insurance has some restrictions concerning with customization choices
Most employers negotiate the coverage for critical illnesses with the insurer before offering you the package. As a result, the latter may not cover the illnesses to which you are vulnerable. Even if it does, it will necessitate you to spend a certain amount of money which may put a strain on your finances.
But you can customize the health insurance plan to your benefit by adding certain elements to it. These include the options for the sum insured, and a plan to include all the members of your family along with the freedom to decide the payouts for them.
If you include these aspects in the health insurance scheme offered by your employer, then you can better control it to make it more beneficial for you and your family.
Another loophole that you need to address in such a plan is the daily hospitalization expenses. You are unlikely to get this feature with your preferred level of flexibility.
You can meet this challenge by getting a plan with fixed benefits; apart from critical illnesses for all the members of your family; it will also provide you with coverage for the hospital admission. Besides, such a plan is also likely to offer you coverage for select surgeries.
A health insurance policy from an employer doesn’t come with the guarantee for the continuation
One of the major shortcomings of a health insurance plan from the employer’s end is that it may not continue as expected; it may end abruptly as soon as you quit the job.
Unlike individual plans, you cannot extend group plans. This is because it ends with the immediate effect when either you put down papers or your employer terminates your employment. Also, the decision to convert your group plan into an individual plan can turn out to be expensive for you.
So, what can you do to turn it to your advantage? Is there any way to do it? Fortunately, the answer is yes.
Read on to find out how you can customize an employer’s insurance policy to your advantage by overcoming all the aforementioned shortcomings.
An employer’s insurance policy doesn’t provide much scope for future planning
The primary objective of group plans that are available these days is to reduce the liability of the cost of treatment. Such plans do not attach importance to the quality of treatment. If you think of its background, it came into being in the yesteryears when the insurance was not a mandatory requirement. What’s more, healthcare back then wasn’t as expensive as it is at present.
As a beneficiary, you need to ask the following questions:
● Will it cover the expenses for your admission to a hospital for a brief period?
● Can you go for the surgical process with it for the treatment of your illness without worrying about its cost?
● Will the plan cover the critical illness of your family members the assurance of the quality of treatment?
To begin with, group plans are appropriate for daily expenses involving common treatments. They aren’t for the treatment or surgery of critical illnesses. Therefore, the question of the aforementioned coverage doesn’t arise with group plans.
You need to look for other options to address the need for coverage of hospitalization and surgery. Depending on your medical history, as well as that of your family, you would want a plan that would tick the right boxes of the treatment needs for both.
In other words, you need a plan with lenient terms and conditions amounting to an assured lump sum to answer the questions mentioned above. Among other things, such a plan will address the problems in the group plan without any restriction. It will meet yours as well as your family’s health cover-related requirements without straining your finances in the form of a monthly premium.
That said, identifying such a well-customized plan is easier said than done. You need to compare the features of such plans from different providers to select the right one that meets your needs.
Issues with group plans
From the above, it becomes crystal clear that group plans have some issues even as they sound good on paper. The prominent needs that it fails to address include diagnostic services for all employees and maternity education.
Besides, it does not provide many choices in terms of meeting the health-risks relating to the medical history of one’s family. It doesn’t provide an option in this regard. It only provides coverage for select medical conditions that may not cater to your needs.
Plus, it also has some other issues. For instance, it necessitates the payment of higher pocket expenses at the time of hospitalization. And it does not provide coverage for critical illnesses and surgeries in a practical way. Even if it does for some surgeries, its coverage is superficial, which may not serve the purpose of a beneficiary in their desired manner.
Think about turning your plan into a fixed benefit individual plan
As much expensive it is, the annual renewal of an individual plan may not be as beneficial. Instead, a five-year fixed benefit individual plan can be more favourable to you. It will enable you to enjoy greater peace of mind as it does not discontinue even upon the termination of your employment.
Besides, a supplementary plan also offers some additional coverage. It can come in handy for hospitalization as well as the surgeries in connection with the treatment of critical illnesses such as the ones related to cancer, diabetes, and other specific illnesses.
Final thoughts
Whether you talk about the individual plan or the group plan, there is no denying that the health insurance plan from an employer comes with certain strings attached. Though you pay the premium for it every month in the form of a deduction from your salary, it may not address your health needs as well as the health needs of your family members. The only way out to address such problems is to evaluate it properly and then add the missing elements to it that correspond to your needs.
While your employer’s health insurance plan may not be enough to cover all your needs, proper customization can make it more useful.