In the new financial year, if you’re looking for a healthcare plan to cover the medical needs of your employees, here’s what you need to know.
As the lifestyle and the medical needs of your employees and their families change, so does the healthcare plan they need, to support their medical expenses. A traditional group health insurance plan will not meet the requirements of every employee. In fact, as the conversation around health and wellness has increased, the awareness of individuals and their expectations from their company-sponsored health plan has also evolved.?
We have put together a list that will help you make the right choice when picking a health insurance plan for your employees and their families.
- Choose the correct sum insured: You should consider a higher sum insured, keeping in mind the rising medical inflation and the treatment expense. Expenses may vary depending on the location as well because, in metro cities, treatment can be more advanced and hence expensive compared to smaller cities. Thus, as an employer, HR professional or a relevant decision-maker, you should consider choosing a higher sum insured.
- Opt for plans that offer flexibility: The group health insurance plan should give employees a certain level of flexibility. For example, the plan should allow adding family members to the policy or changing their contribution to the premium through top-up plans. Similarly, you should be able to add a rider or a top-up plan effortlessly such as maternity, OPD cover, tele-health consultation, critical illness, etc.
- Technologically enabled: Technology can no longer be ignored when choosing a group insurance plan. You and your employees both should be able to enjoy the benefits of various applications and software for a better and hassle-free process. Whether it is purchasing and making changes to the policy, by the HR professionals, or the claim settlement process and customer service for the employees, make sure the plan offers everything that can be done online in a hassle-free manner.
- Wide network of hospitals: Since work-from-anywhere has settled in, it is always a great idea to choose an insurer that is in partnership with several top-ranking multi-specialty hospitals across the country. During the pandemic, many employees are working from their hometowns, and if the plan doesn’t cover the network of hospitals in their town, the policy might not be practical.
- Room rent limits and co-payments clause: Room rent limits can often lead to lower claim amounts, while the co-payments clause requires the policyholder to pay a certain percentage of hospital bills. You wouldn’t want your employee to be in a fix because of such clauses, during an already distressing time of a medical emergency. Thus, you must check these clauses carefully before signing up for a plan.
- Wellness benefit:?Group health insurance plans that offer a spectrum of wellness programs are usually preferred over plain vanilla ones. When a plan covers expenses of online OPD consultations, lab tests at home and preventive healthcare package, it goes beyond the realm of basic insurance cover and focuses on the employee's convenience as well as overall wellbeing. Such programs are intended to not only keep employees physically healthy but also keep them mentally relaxed. Also, features like online consultation and preventive health check-ups are a great way to allow your employees to reach out to experts and reduce overall health risk.
Professionals across industries have started looking for added perks from their employers and physical & mental wellness are at the center of this new normal. By evaluating the needs of your employees in the right manner, you can provide them a healthcare plan that meets their needs as well as gives them something extra.
Senior manager at Kotak Mahindra Bank Cards
2 年Don't sell your product else people will die of your policy when they come to know that even after paying policy premium,you guys kept insurance on hold
Business Development|Product Management|Underwriting|Product & Distribution Strategy
2 年Meaningful and well articulated article covering all aspects of coverage. Normally I see some insurtech companies in this space only talking about their platform and ease of enrollment and less about the product.