In 2022, every employee is looking to work for a company with great benefits, and one of those significant benefits is healthcare. This is where group health insurance comes into play.
A good health insurance plan can be beneficial in saving a lot of money in case of contingencies. All you would have to do is pay a yearly premium to purchase an insurance policy and in case of a medical emergency, your insurer would pay the bills for you.
However, in the case of Employee Group Health Insurance, this coverage is free for employees of a company. The good news is that, recently, in India, this group health insurance has been made compulsory.
What is group health insurance?
Precisely put, a group health insurance plan is a kind of policy that insures a group of individuals that come under the same contract, and work for the same organisation. This insurance plan covers the group of individuals regardless of their gender, age, profession or social status.
This policy is very beneficial to employees as they do not have to purchase an individual insurance plan. Usually, such insurance policies are covered as a part of the employee’s pay-out benefits. Such policies can be inclusive of employees, their dependent parents, spouses and children. This insurance policy is also referred to as – Corporate Health Insurance.
Such a policy can be very advantageous to the employer as well as the employee as it is a lot cheaper than individual insurance policies and can provide benefits such as tax reductions.
To go into the specifics, medical fee is covered by the insured during any injury, illness or hospitalisation occurred in India. Medical expenses before and after hospitalisation can be insured for up to thirty days and sixty days respectively. This covers a vast age group starting from 91 days up until 80 years.
One of the other perks is that under a corporate health insurance plan, the employers can have the independence to either design the plan themselves or choose a predetermined policy from the insurance company.
How is group health insurance beneficial for employees as well as employers?
¨ For Employees:
- Free of cost health insurance plan: The premium fee of the insurance policy is paid for by the organisation as an advantage to the employee for being a part of it, hence the employees get the benefits of health insurance at no charge. As the medical costs across the nation are sky-rocketing, this is a massive benefit for any employee. This means that not only is it a lot more affordable than individual health insurance policy but it is also at no extra cost to the employees.
- All inclusive: As mentioned earlier, group health insurance policy covers people with almost all ages. This covers a vast age group starting from 91 days up until 80 years. This is also inclusive of an employee’s family and any dependents.
- Personalised health care: The employers have the freedom to either design the plan themselves or choose a ready-made plan from the insurance company.
- High quality coverage: Though corporate group health insurance is free of cost; it can be of really high quality depending on the company.
- Absence of a waiting period: Group health insurance also differs from individual health insurance policies as there is no waiting period.
- Precaution is better than cure: Since group health insurance policies include free health check-ups annually, it can help identify & prevent a lot of early onset medical issues.
¨ For employers:
- Increase brand loyalty: The easiest way to make employees be loyal to a company is by making them feel valued and important. What better way of doing that by providing health insurance free of cost? This helps in creating a positive work environment as well. After all, a company is only as good as its employees.
- Tax benefits: Companies that provide group health insurance to its employees can claim tax deductions on the dividend paid on the insurance plan in their tax returns.
- Convenient payment options: Employers can choose to pay premium for the insurance policy as and when they please whether it be monthly, quarterly or yearly.
Conclusion
The Covid ’19 pandemic has completely changed our priorities and made us value our health more than anything. With medical bills getting higher and higher due to inflation, and qualitative health care becoming rarer, group health insurance plans can quite literally be life-saving for employees.
Corporate group health insurance policy is a great option that can be beneficial to both – the organisation as well as its employees. Its features include maternal care, cashless health care, pre and post hospitalisation coverage, age inclusivity, gender inclusivity, family inclusivity as well as tax saving benefit.
An online health insurance plan is not just an added work-advantage anymore, but has proven to be a necessity for employees.