How A Family Health Plan Saves You Money

When handling family budgets, cutting costs without skipping on necessary services like healthcare often becomes a priority. Instead of individual health insurance, a family health plan might be a better financial option. This type of policy covers your spouse, kids, and sometimes even parents under one umbrella, which not only simplifies things but also saves money in several ways.

This article dives into how family health insurance can protect your loved ones while being more affordable.

What Is a Family Health Plan?

A family health plan offers health insurance that covers all members of a family under a single policy. It includes the main policyholder, their spouse, kids, and sometimes older dependents like parents. With a floater sum insured, the total coverage is shared by everyone in the family, allowing them to use the amount as needed.

For example, if the plan provides ₹10 lakhs of coverage, it can be used by one family member or split among a few based on their medical requirements.

How A Family Health Insurance Helps You Save

Here’s how a family health insurance plan helps you save:

1. One Premium Covers Everyone

You can save money by using a single premium to cover multiple family members. Buying separate policies for everyone costs a lot more than picking a family floater plan. Take an example: covering everyone with a ₹5 lakh insured amount could be 40 to 60% pricier than a ₹10 lakh floater plan for the entire family.

2. Tax Savings Through Section 80D

Premiums for family health plans qualify for tax deductions under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act just like individual plans. You are allowed to claim:

● Up to ₹25,000 for yourself, your spouse, and kids
● You can claim an extra ₹25,000 if you cover your parents’ insurance. This amount doubles to

₹50,000 when they are senior citizens.

This makes it possible to save up to ₹75,000 on taxes in a year.

3. Coverage That Works for All Ages

Managing several insurance plans with varied terms and renewal dates can get tricky. A family plan brings everything together. It helps you skip extra fees or overlapping services, like individual health check-ups or duplicate charges, since these often come bundled in a single plan.

4. Easy Addition of New Family Members

Bringing home a newborn? Most family health insurance plans let you include your baby after a waiting period of around 90 days. You don’t need to buy a whole new policy. The same rule works for adding a married spouse, saving you from spending extra money or dealing with the hassle of getting a separate plan in the middle of the year.

5. Easier Options to Customise Riders and Add-Ons

You will find that add-ons like maternity benefits, critical illness coverage, or a room rent waiver cost less with family plans than doing this for individual plans. This happens because family plans benefit from economies of scale.

When Should You Go for a Family Health Plan?

Choose a family health insurance plan if:

● Your family includes dependent kids or parents.
● You are in your early or middle career stage while also managing your household.
● Your family has an overall good history when it comes to health.
● You prefer insurance policies that are easy to manage and cost-effective.

But if someone in your family has a condition that leads to frequent hospital visits, it may be wiser to get a separate individual policy for them since it could save money in the long run.

Breaking Common Myths

Here are some common myths and respective realities:

Myth 1: The sum insured won’t cover everyone’s expenses.

Reality: Most family members don’t need hospitalisation in the same year. A ₹10 lakh family floater plan is enough, unless ongoing medical issues are a regular concern.

Myth 2: If one person makes a claim, others lose coverage.

Reality: This is true. However many plans include a “restore benefit,” which brings back the full insured amount after it’s used. This is often provided without extra charge.

Myth 3: Individual plans give stronger coverage.

Reality: Unless someone has a unique health issue, family plans often give much better value for money overall.

Final Thoughts

If you are a young couple planning to start a family or a parent wanting to protect your household’s health, a family health plan makes handling insurance easier and better. These plans provide combined benefits, tax advantages, and easier management, giving full healthcare coverage while costing less than separate policies.

Chola MS Health Insurance provides several family health insurance plans. These plans balance cost and coverage well and aim to bring confidence and safety to all your family members.

FAQs

Q1: Is it possible to add my parents to my family health plan?
Yes, most insurance companies let you add dependent parents, but this may cause premiums to rise. A separate senior citizen policy might suit their needs better in some cases.

Q2: What if someone in the family uses the whole sum insured?
Certain policies come with a restore benefit that allows the sum insured to reset once the entire amount is used up.

Q3: Do family health plans include maternity coverage?
A few family policies provide maternity coverage, either as an optional add-on or after a waiting period. You should confirm this detail before buying.

Q4: Is it possible to increase the sum insured later?
Many times, you can raise your sum insured at the time of renewal. This requires approval through underwriting.