The availability of health coverage options like a family health insurance plan has done away with the hassles of buying a separate plan for each family member. Today, you can easily choose a family health insurance plan, also known as a family floater plan, to cover the financial risks related to possible health concerns. These insurance plans come with competitive coverage benefits, allowing a family to remain covered across a wide range of aspects, like illness assistance, hospitalizations, cashless claims, etc.

When purchasing a family floater plan, one of the important things to know is the extent of coverage it can provide in terms of its relation to the policyholder and the total number of members covered. Let us take a look at whether these policies cover every member of the family or not.

Family Health Insurance Plans and Their Coverage for Family Members

A family health insurance plan comes with a sum insured that is divided either equally among all eligible members for a claim or claimed on a first-need basis. When purchasing a family floater plan, you must know that the coverage is for immediate family members only, including the following categories:

• Parents: One or both parents can be a part of family members receiving mediclaim benefits under a family floater plan.
  
  
• Spouse: For married individuals, the spouse is eligible for benefits under a family floater plan.
  
  
• Children: Also, children, whether dependent or independent, can be covered in a family health insurance policy.
  
  
• Siblings: A family where siblings live together, such siblings can be included as beneficiaries of the policy as well.
  
  
• Grandparents: You can also add one or both grandparents for coverage benefits under the policy.
  
  
• In-laws: Some best family floater plans also provide coverage benefits for in-laws, especially mother-in-law and father-in-law.
  
  
• Any dependent family member: A policyholder can also add any other dependent family member to the list for receiving eligible coverage benefits.

Things to Know When Purchasing a Family Floater Plan

When purchasing a family floater plan, there are a few essential things to know and take care of. Let us take a look at them one by one.

• Although multiple family members receive the coverage benefits of a family health insurance policy, there is only one policyholder on whose name such policy is issued. Other members added to the policy are known as beneficiaries.
  
  
• Any limitations to the total number of family members to be covered under a single-family floater plan vary from one insurance provider to another.
  
  
• Spending on a family floater plan also allows you to save tax on your annual income based on applicable sections of the Income Tax Act.
  
  
• Depending on the type of health cover selected, the sum insured can be either distributed proportionately among covered members or utilized as per the claim made. While for the former, members can use only the dedicated amount, policies in the latter case come with no such limits. Hence, depending on the need for a claim even the entire sum can be claimed by a single family member, if required.
  
  
• Almost all family floater plans come with an option to increase the sum insured for better and desired coverage of family members.

With these many variables assigned to a family health insurance policy and many more, these covers only add flexibility to the overall financial security that a family may seek during health emergencies. Benefits like cashless claims and a wide healthcare center network only ease the process of making claims. When purchasing health insurance, you must also take care to assess available insurance providers and choose the one offering the widest coverage and having a good claim history.