The rapidly rising medical cost and limited coverage offered by a single health insurance plan have made it necessary for consumers to buy multiple health insurance plans. Having multiple health insurance plans give you backup protection in case of any medical emergencies. Individuals can buy multiple health insurance plans from different service providers. It offers an extra level of protection that a single plan might not provide.

Benefits of having multiple health insurance plans:

• Provides protection against a rejection of claims

It becomes a crisis situation for families to pay from their pocket if the claim is rejected by one insurer. Having multiple plans acts as a buffer.

• Less cost

Investing in one big plan is costly at times. The premium will be less in plans having smaller cover. The smaller cover will be less costly.

• Diversify across insurers

Individuals can buy multiple plans from different insurers. This helps in diversifying across insurers and gives benefit in coverage.

• Personal health plan and critical illness plan

Much critical illness is not covered under general health plans. One can benefit from buying personal health policy and critical illness plan by maximizing health coverage.

Increasing cover is not a bad idea but one should ensure that claims are approved without hassles. For this one should be aware of the claim procedure, which depends upon the type of policy one is having.

Some common encounters one may face while making a claim with multiple policies are mentioned below:

1. Group and individual indemnity policy

In this case, a claim can be lodged with any of the insurers. However, group health policy should be the first choice as the insurer is likely to apply a loading charge for making a claim on the personal policy. Also, group policies cover pre-existing diseases while one has to wait for three to four years in the individual policy.

1. Personal reimbursement plus fixed benefit plan

Fixed benefit plans like health plans sold by life insurers cover pay on diagnosis. The process is different in regular indemnity plans which settle claims on the basis of actual hospital expenses. However one can make concurrent claims with both plans.

1. Two different plans from the same insurer

Though policies are from the same companies the underwriting policies may result in the division of claim amount between the two policies. Also having the same TPA for both the policies may be an advantage as they are managed by the same set of people.

As a policyholder, holding more than one policy, disclosure and transparency are important. No matter which combination of policies one may have, declaring all policies before buying a new one ensures an accurate premium rate and hassle-free claim experience. Buying multiple policies is not enough. One also need to know about how to use them efficiently.