When you change your health insurance policy from one insurance company to another, you don’t have to lose the benefits you have accumulated.

In the past in health insurance policies, such a move resulted in your losing benefits like the waiting period for covering "Pre-existing Diseases".

Now IRDA protects you by giving you the right to port your policy to any other insurer of your choice. It has laid down that your new insurer “shall allow for credit gained by the insured for pre-existing condition(s) in terms of waiting period”.

This applies not only when you move from one insurer to another but also from one plan to another with the same insurer.

Rights

1 You can port your policy from and to any general insurance company or specialised health insurance company

2 You can port any individual/ family policies

3 Your new insurer has to give you the credit relating to waiting period for pre-existing conditions that you have gained with the old insurer

4 Your new insurer has to insure you at least up to the sum insured under the old policy

5 The two insurers should complete the porting as per the timelines prescribed in the IRDA (Protection of Policyholders’ Interests) Regulations and guidelines

Conditions

1 You can port the policy only at the juncture of renewal. That is, the new insurance period will be with the new insurance company

2 Apart from the waiting period credit, all other terms of the new policy including the premium are at the discretion of the new insurance company

3 At least 45 days before your renewal is due you have to

IRDA Facilitation

IRDA has created a web-based facility to get and maintain data about all health insurance policies issued by insurance companies to individuals so that it can be accessed by the new company to which a policyholder wishes to port his policy.

This enables the new insurer to obtain data on history of health insurance of the policyholder wishing to port his policy.