Marriage is one of the most crucial stage that brings out several beautiful changes in your life. It’s therefore worthwhile to note how it affects your health insurance too.
Marriage changes a lot of things for the women. She leaves behind her parents, her home, her life including her name and starts with a new home, a new family, and a new name. Perhaps this is the reason why marriage is termed as an important milestone of a girl’s life followed by the birth of a child. While marriage brings about a lot of changes, one thing that also changes is your personal details. You change your name, your address, start including your husband instead of your father in all the documents and also your signature. Such a change also affects your financial portfolio because you are required to record your changes in all the investments made by you. Health insurance is also an important part of your financial portfolio and presents many alternatives post your marriage.
Having a health insurance policy has become quintessential in today’s age and previously where people only included themselves in valid health insurance coverage, today; more and more people are buying health insurance for their whole family. For you, as a precious daughter, your father might have covered you in the family floater health plan bought by him or if you are a working professional, you might have an individual health insurance plan of your own. So how will marriage change the scene? Let’s understand:
Scenario 1 - Family Floater Plans for Married Couples
Your caring father has a family floater plan which covers you and now you are getting married. So what are your options? Firstly, marriage doesn’t mean that your family floater coverage will expire. You can continue to be covered under the family floater plan bought by your father for as long as you do not reach the maximum allowable age limit for dependent children under the plan. It may be 21 years or 25 years and after that you will have to get covered in either an individual plan or your husband’s floater plan. So your family floater policy will come in handy only for a year or two, if you marry early, after which you need to seek out other alternatives.
Scenario 2 - Health Insurance: Individual Plans Before Marriage
You were smart enough to buy an independent health plan for yourself before marriage but what are your options now that you are getting married? Well, the option is simple. You will just have to change your personal details like maiden name, address, signature, etc. under the plan without any other changes and your plan will continue with the changed details as before. There will be no requirement of fresh underwriting or the loading of premium while you can still enjoy the benefits of your no claim bonus which have cumulated ever since you bought the health plan and the already elapsed period of the waiting period clause without losing them. You will simply have to submit your marriage certificate which details all the changes and request for the required changes.
Another option for you is to include your husband in your existing policy. If you have a plan with great features and which is best in the market, you can include your husband in the cover anytime by paying the pro-rated premium. Your husband’s identity proof, address proof, age proof, photographs and your marriage certificate will have to be submitted and a new form detailing your husband’s information has to be filled and submitted to the company.
Scenario 3 – Choosing a New Health Insurance Plan After Marriage
Another option that you have is to discontinue your individual plan and get included in the husband’s existing policy. Your husband might have a family floater plan covering himself and his parents and he will simply add you as his spouse. This has to be initiated by your husband by submitting the marriage certificate and your KYC documents which include identity proof, age proof and photographs. The change can be done either on the next policy renewal or at any time during policy continuation by filling up an additional form stating your details and submitting the pro-rated premium.
If you do not want to be covered in the floater plan, you can also buy an independent plan post marriage if you did not have one earlier. You will have to fill up the proposal form, attach the supporting documents and pay the required premium. You can buy the plan under your new name by submitting necessary documents.
Coverfox Verdict
Having a family floater plan which covers you and your husband will be the ideal option. It will cover both of you in one policy and will provide a higher coverage at lower premium rates. Choose a policy with exhaustive features which will provide for your requirements and a substantial Sum Assured so that the coverage opted for is optimum. Also, it’s worthwhile to check for benefits like maternity and new born baby cover as you will plan your family in future. Bear in mind that coverage usually has a waiting period hence you can accordingly plan. If the existing plan does not have the maternity coverage, find a plan that has one without compromising on other features and then port the existing plan to the new one. Marriage changes many things and your health insurance plan should also reflect the necessary changes.
Recommentded Read: Choosing between Family Floater and Individual Health Insurance
