How a salaried person can go about buying health insurance for parents

If you are a salaried person working for a company, you might be eligible for corporate group health insurance, which comes with a host of benefits. There is also the provision to add your family members to the policy, including your spouse, children and even parents.

While some companies offer coverage for parents which is inclusive in the group medical insurance plan, others employers offer the coverage at an additional premium which can be borne by the employee.

Since aging parents are more vulnerable to illnesses, and with the rising healthcare costs, it makes sense to add your parents to your employee health insurance plan, said Sanchit Malik, Co-Founder and CEO at Pazcare while talking to CNBC-TV18.com.

What is the benefit of covering parents in group health insurance?

There are certain advantages for covering your parents in the corporate group medical insurance policy, such as better benefits at a lower premium, including coverage against pre-existing diseases etc, Malik said.

ALSO READ | IRDAI proposes setting up new platform for sale of insurance policies

Key things to consider:

There are some challenges and possible solutions to be kept in mind while enrolling your parents in group health insurance. These are listed below:

Problem 1

Generally, the insurance coverage taken by the corporates are in the range of Rs 3-5 lakh for the entire family, which might not be adequate with respect to vulnerability to illness and rising medical costs with respect to parents.

Possible solution

You should consider buying a super top-up, specially for your parents, which would get a higher limit coverage at a reasonable premium. The premium paid by you against this policy can be taken as exemption under Section 80D (up to Rs 25,000 per year for parents less than 60 years), Malik told CNBC-TV18.com.

Problem 2

Health coverage for the parents, which is being taken by the company under their group medical insurance, is not a guaranteed benefit. There are many reasons for that, such as:

ALSO READ | Exclusive: India considering one licence for all kinds of insurance

Possible solution

You should buy an individual health insurance policy specially for your parents which would get you a continuity in the coverage, without any dependence on the continuity of the corporate policy or any job-related scenarios, Malik quoted.