How can an employer manage health insurance cover at the time of job transfer?

New Delhi: The onslaught of the Covid-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc in individual lives in more than one way. The Coronavirus pandemic has disrupted lives while creating financial hurdles for families.

Added with soaring medical costs and the pandemic throwing things into disarray, the most crucial aspect of any and every individual is to secure their health insurance. It has become a necessity to invest in the same.

Sanchit Malik, Co-Founder & CEO, Pazcare in an exclusive chat with Reema Sharma of Zee Media said, “Many people were laid off during the pandemic from their jobs because of the incapacity to generate income during the pandemic while many shifted jobs for better prospects”.

In all this, managing incentives from one job to another could be a cumbersome process for an individual. As the employee needs to juggle everything, managing finances and accounts could be tiring.

“While shifting base, an employer would play a crucial role in making the shift easy and comfortable for the employee. By having a smooth offboarding process, the unnecessary hassle could be minimized. The employer needs to handle the onboarding as well as offboarding process smoothly as it also reflects the company culture,” he added.

Malik further adds that to better manage insurance cover at the time of job transfer, the current employer could allow the employee to continue under the group health policy till the policy period ends, as the premium is already paid. They may also collect the differential premium, if needed, from the F&F. It is not mandatory to follow this but could be done if the outgoing employee wants to opt for it. This will also call in for a great employee experience overall, even at the time of an employee exiting the organisation.

Another option of portability is also available in the market however there is no uptake for it. In portability, employees can shift from Group Health Insurance (GHI) Policy to retail. Brokers could assist for the same if they are equipped for it. The premium here will be as quoted by the insurer for a retail policy, based on the claims history in the consecutive four years. The PED waiting period will also be confirmed basis the previous policy-claims experience, says Malik.