Covering older family members can make it expensive
Family floaters can become super expensive, if the cover is bought for adults with a large gap in their age. In such cases where the age gap is very high between adults individual plans turn out to be more suitable.
For example, for a family of 3, where the age of the parents is 50 and 45, and the age of the kid is 25, the premiums of a family floater policy with the sum insured of Rs. 30 lakhs will be Rs. 53,814. For the same family, the premiums of 3 individual policies with a sum insured of Rs. 10 lakhs each will cost Rs. 43,183. Thus, you can see how for families with a large age gap, the cost of the floater policy is higher.
One member can exhaust the entire cover
If one person in your family gets hospitalised and ends up using most of the sum insured, the remaining members might be left with inadequate cover. And, in case multiple members of your family get hospitalised at the same time or within the same year, this can be a huge issue.
So, ensure you do not buy a family floater when the age gap between the adults in the policy is very high - not only because it can be expensive, but also because, there is a good chance that the senior member may exhaust the cover, leaving the younger members without the cover or vice-versa.
Of course, this can be solved by -
Ensuring you take adequate cover in the policy for the long term
In case you’re buying a floater at, say, 30 years of age and covering 2 adults who are in their late 20s or early 30s, always go for a long-term cover of Rs. 15 Lakhs per adult. Buy a floater cover of Rs. 30 Lakhs for two adults who will be reaching or have recently crossed the age of 30.
Buying the floater with Restoration Benefit
There’s a feature in most health policies called Restoration Benefit that will restore your sum insured if it is exhausted within a policy year. If you buy a floater plan with this feature, you can ensure your family has sufficient cover, always. In some policies, this feature is available by default, while in others, it is available as an optional benefit.
The conditions for restoring the sum insured may vary across insurers and products. So, ensure you read the policy wordings carefully before going ahead.