Individual Health Insurance Vs. Group Health Insurance – What’s Best?

By Author: Pranav V Sharma
Total Articles: 141
Comment this article

There are a lot of similarities and differences between group and individual health insurance. It’s not something you can leave on chance, or rock-paper-scissors. You have to consider and contemplate all the options before choosing the health insurance that suits you. Whether you pick group or individual health insurance, make sure you know advantages and disadvantages of each.

Pros of Group Health Insurance

Group health insurance is provided to you by your employer. Whichever organisation you work for handles the entire insurance process and applications and you have nothing to worry about. The company will also pay for either part, or full amount of your premium. Since group health insurance cannot be denied for a certain individual by insurance companies, you have full assurance that you’re going to be insured, even if you have existing ailments or illnesses.

Cons of Group Health Insurance

Since your company organisation and pays for a part of your group health insurance policy, if you decide to leave or are terminated from the company, your health insurance will be discontinued. Some insurance ...
... companies do allow you to extend your coverage, but that’s only done at extra costs with an additional, longer process. Also, your employer buying your health insurance means that you have no options about which policy is chosen. You have to go ahead with whatever your company or employer picks.

Pros of Individual Health Insurance

As opposed to not having options in group health insurance, individual health insurance means you have a large spectrum to choose from. You completely decide who your insurer is, what plan you want, what premium you want, etc.

Another positive of individual health insurance is that your insurance is permanent. You don’t have to worry about what happens to it if you leave your job, or join a new place, etc. For unemployed or self-employed professionals, this, in fact, is the only option.

Cons of Individual Health Insurance

The application process for individual health insurance is lengthy and tedious. You have to go through medical tests to make sure your request is valid and to determine your pre-existing illnesses. The premium costs are also much higher for this route and you might or might not get approved for that health insurance. However some states and countries have made it mandatory for a person to have approved health insurance – it is not an option.

Whichever health insurance you choose, make sure you take into consideration all these factors. Health insurance is not a matter to be taken lightly, with the rising medical expenses you have to make sure you’ve got yourself and your family covered. The responsibility is yours – choose well.
_________________________________________________________________________

Pranav Sharma is an insurance agent based in Mumbai; Pranav assists individuals and corporates in purchasing the right Health Insurance & often shares his insights about the Mediclaim industry on internet.