Group Insurance

A group insurance scheme or policy is a master plan that covers members of a particular group. Group insurance policies are mostly bought by employers for their employees. Group insurances are created to provide better protection at reduced cost as the provider’s cost is spread across a large number of policyholders. Group insurance can also be bought by organizations to cover their customers, borrowers and channel partners.

Following are some common types of group insurance policies:

• Group Health Insurance: a type of insurance that provides health coverage to the group members and their dependents (if covered) under the policy. It generally covers hospitalisation expenses, day care charges and ambulance charges amongst other medical expenses.
• Group Life Insurance: this is a type of group insurance that provides death benefits to the members of the group for a stipulated time period. If a member of the group dies then the nominee of the group member receives compensation. But this insurance does not provide benefits if the insured survives the maturity period.
• Group Personal Accident Insurance: this is a group insurance that covers the group members for death or permanent disability due to accidents.
• Group Travel Insurance: group travel insurance covers a group of people travelling together against any unforeseen contingencies, both medical and non-medical. So, group policies for employees can be any of these or even a combination of these policies.

• Group insurances cover all members of the group and provide them with standardised cover, irrespective of the size of the group
• Group insurances can cover the members along with their dependents, if included in the coverage
• Coverage for pre-existing ailments, maternity for employee/spouse and a wide range of diseases
• Reimbursement of claims if treated in non-panel hospitals
• Additional coverage for medical practitioner charges, ambulance charge, room rent/ICU charges, etc.
• A group insurance ceases to exist when a member leaves the group

All leading Life Insurers, General Insurers and Standalone Health Insurance companies offer group insurance policies. The group business contributes around 50% of the total premium for certain lines of businesses. Some key insurers include: ICICI Lombard, LIC of India, The New India Assurance Company and National Insurance.

Eligibility criteria varies by insurance companies. Some of the common eligibility criteria are:

• Members have to be active and full-time members of the group, especially in the case of employee-employer policies
• Minimum age of entry is 18 years and the maximum age varies between 65-69 years
• The minimum number of group members also varies. Some group insurance plans want a minimum of 7 members in a group and a few require at least 50 members

The following are the steps:

• Quotation – SecureNow provides an option to buy group insurance policy online. Enter basic details about your group size and get instant quotes on our website.
• Member data collection – Requisite data of the insured is collected to be able to provide appropriate cover and benefits via the group insurance policy. Standard data items include: the name and date of birth of the concerned member.
• Payment – We provide options to pay via our payment gateway or NEFT transfer directly to the insurer’s bank account.
• Card and certificate distribution to insured members – All members will get a certificate of insurance or an e-card on SecureNow App.

Group Health Insurance

• Duly filled group health insurance claim form
• Doctor’s statement showcasing line of treatment
• Original medical bills
• Hospital bills and receipts, original
• Discharge summary

Group Life Insurance

• Duly filled group life insurance claim form
• Post-mortem certificate in case of accidental deaths
• Death certificate of the member
• Cancelled cheque for death benefit disbursement

Group Personal Accident Insurance

• Duly filled group personal insurance claim form
• Copy of police FIR report
• Certificate of disability, leave from employer, doctor’s reports- in case of disability
• Death certificate, post-mortem report - in case of death of the member

Group Travel Insurance:

• Duly filled group travel insurance claim form
• Copy of member’s passport
• Copy of boarding pass and baggage slips
• Identity proof of member
• Copy of FIR report - in case of theft
• Property Irregularity Report (PIR) from airlines - in case of baggage loss
• Cancelled cheque and NEFT details

Following are the steps to be taken to make a claim under group insurance policy:

• Step1: Registration of the claim – Inform SecureNow about the incident within 24 hours. You can intimate your claim via our email id or phone or via the app. At the time of the intimation, please share the date of loss, the cause of loss, the details of the individual involved and expected claim amount.
• Step2: Submission of documents – You should submit the necessary documents, as per the list shared above. The documents must be submitted in originals. You can submit scanned copy of the documents via our App for faster processing.
• Step3: Response to insurer queries – Often insurers may have follow-up queries regarding the claim made. We must answer all the questions posed promptly to be able to avail a faster claim settlement.
• Step4: Bank details for payments – The insured or the nominee has to submit requisite bank details to get the claim processed. Bank details include a cancelled cheque that has their name clearly printed on it.