Introduction
“Driving race cars is risky; not having life insurance is riskier,” ~ Danica Patrick.
Well, it is rightly quoted by Danica. Leading your life without insurance is as good as living in this competitive world with zero savings.
Life insurance can be accounted as an enormous tree with multiple branches bearing fruits, and group life insurance is among them. Every life insurance comes with a motive tailored to various needs and requirements of people from different walks of life.
This blog will help you learn about,
- What is group insurance?
- What are the types of group insurance?
- How and where to buy group insurance?
- How to make a group insurance claim?
- Best group life insurance to buy in India.
Hang on to the blog because now you are going to take an insightful dip into the world of group insurance and learn about the 5Ws + 1H of it.
What is Group Insurance?
As the name suggests, this type of life insurance caters to a group. A group insurance plan gives all group members the same insurance coverage, regardless of age, gender, employment types, job hierarchy, or socioeconomic background.
Usually, when you buy insurance, you are the protagonist. In contrast, group insurance reduces individuality and averts each member’s need to purchase an individual insurance plan.
Apart from covering just the members, group insurance is designed to cover their spouses, children, and dependant parents. Isn’t this a beneficial deal where you can protect your loved ones in one go?
Usually, group insurance is provided by the organization to their employees. But the use case isn’t limited to corporate premises but also includes members of the club, cooperative groups, banks, and workers of a corporation.
Members can also enhance their group insurance scheme by adding riders (additional perks at nominal cost). They can add more value to your insurance, making it a safer option in the longer run.
Characteristics of Group Insurance
Some of the features of group insurance are as follows:
All Group Members Are Covered: A group insurance coverage covers all group members, regardless of size, age, gender, job hierarchy, pay scale, and many more. All the members in the group are treated equally and not served based on any tangent.
The plan concludes once the life insured leaves the group: The group insurance scheme will end once you resign from the current organization. Either the plan will end, or the member will have the option to get it converted into an individual plan.
After going through the definition, let us know the benefits of such insurance. They are as follows:
Gratuity Benefits: Once the life insured completes certain years, the employee is eligible to avail gratuity benefits. And the group insurance provides the company with investment possibilities to assist in the creation of a gratuity fund.
Death benefit and helping hand in hard times: When the life insured meets with an untimely death or with a disability, this group insurance comes to the rescue as they handle the cost during that hard time. As there is a loss of income from the family’s perspective, this insurance scheme shall help in managing debts and existing loans to support the family have a sigh of relief.
Family coverage: As said earlier, decent group insurance has the capability to prepare a secure financial cushion for your loved ones. It is a perk because it lowers the chance to buy another insurance.
Credit protection: Typically, banks and lending institutions utilize group credit protection programs to protect their interests. However, group insurance counteracts their strategy because it protects banks from losses if the borrower dies or suffers a disability and cannot repay the loan.
Cost-effective premiums: Group insurance schemes distribute the percentage risk equitably, and the insurance premiums are less pricey as compared to other life insurance premiums. If you look through different kinds of life insurance premiums, group insurance premiums turn out to be 30% – 35% lower in price compared to individual life insurances.
Don’t bother about Entry Conditions – Before enrolling in a group insurance plan, the potential members are not required to fulfill any terms or conditions, like – undergoing a medical examination, etc. However, certain individual plans demand health check-ups before issuing coverage.
Conversion to Individual Plan – Another beauty of group insurance is – flexibility. For instance, if a group member decides to leave the organization, many insurance companies allow them to change their group insurance to an individual policy. However, not every group insurance comes with this leverage. And, they might be obliged to pay a changeover fee.
Types of Group Insurance
Group Life Insurance: This type of group insurance offers its members a group term life insurance or a death benefit for a certain length of time. And, when the life insured meets with unexpected death due to accident or naturally, their beneficiary is entitled to receive the death benefit claim that is equal to the sum assured.
Nevertheless, if the policyholder manages to sail through the plan’s maturity phase, they shall receive no return benefit or savings.
Group Personal Accident Insurance: As the name implies, this plan assists the life insured or their family covers the pricey expenses incurred due to sudden death or disability. Therefore, it includes optional coverages like – medical bills, relocation of mortal remains, the fund for children’s education, and many more.
Group Health Insurance: This one is curated to cater to the life insured’s health-related needs and is tailored to cover the policyholder and their family. Therefore, this type of plan includes a waiver of the waiting period for pre-existing ailments, allowing you to acquire coverage for such disorders, compared to individual health insurance. Adding more value to this plan, it covers prenatal and newborn expenditures from day one until they complete nine months of the waiting period.
Group Travel Insurance: If you are a travel bug, this can be a healthy plan as it is available for domestic and international travel. It includes a single sum insured amount that ensures all group members on a floater basis. Moreover, it prepares a more secure and wider cushion as it covers travel and medical,atozmp3, travel, and other forms of situations that may arise while travelling.
It provides global coverage and hence comes to the insured’s aid regardless of the country to which they have traveled. It means the group members can have a stress-free journey within and outside the Indian bounds.
What is the Group Insurance Claim Process
Making a group insurance claim is one of the common queries confronted by any potential life insured. And in this blog section, we will dissolve that dilemma as we have brought you bullet points that explain the streamlined process of the group insurance claim.
It isn’t rocket science, it is a simple process, but the pace shall differ with different insurance companies (after all, competency and promptness matter).
To begin with, we will tell you about the required documents to make a claim,
- Provide basic details like – identity and address proof of the concerned beneficiary/nominee.
- You will receive a claim form, so you must complete and submit it.
- Insurance certificate
- Hospital certificate
- Submit the first information report (FIR) if an accident was involved in the event.
- Death certificate
Once the nominee has all the essential things, they must submit it to the insurance company. Then, they will process the request further and make the necessary background check for credibility. Once the verification is complete, the insurer shall pay the sum assured to the beneficiary.
Where and How to Buy a Group Insurance Scheme?
You can buy an insurance company or online medium. You can walk into the office and apply for the individual insurance plan. When you go to the office, the respective insurance agent will take you through a plethora of plans that will suit you based on your information, financial details, and requirements.
Or else you can apply for the plan via online methods. If we were to suggest a good alternative, it is first to call the insurance company via call, provide details, and many more to get a more direct plan. And then get in touch with the company personally or complete the procedure online to have safer and contactless insurance in COVID19 times.
ABSLI Group Protection Solutions: Best group life insurance to buy in India
It is employee-employer group insurance by the Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance that will assist you in securing your family more effectively by providing you with customizable options in the insurance policy. This group insurance scheme comes with 8 riders and 5 optional perks that will have the employees back for – accidental death, disability, critical and terminal disease.
The below-mentioned are some of the features of this plan,
Death benefit: As per this benefit, if the life insured meets with an untimely death when the plan is active, the insurance company shall initiate paying the death benefit to the nominee once the claim is processed.
Choose your advantage: Here, the life insured holds the liberty to opt between the level cover and increasing cover.
Individual Conversion Option: If the policyholder decides to surrender the policy, they can continue to enjoy the insurance as a personal plan.
Riders: They can be called benefits with extra cost. These add value and make your plan a more secure cushion that will safeguard you and your family in a better manner. The list of riders under this plan are as follows:
- Accidental Death Rider
- Accidental Death and Dismemberment Rider
- Critical Illness Rider Benefit
- Critical Illness Plus Rider Benefit
- Term Rider
- Total & Permanent Disability Rider
- Critical Illness Premier Rider
- Accelerated Critical Illness Premier Rider
To know more about this group insurance plan by the ABSLI, click – ABSLI Group Protection Solutions.
Conclusion
As a responsible employer, always make your employees feel secure, and for that, you should always buy an insurance that acts as a beneficial deal for them. And, to avail yourself the best, you should go for the best that gives you the freedom of customization and add ons that not every group insurance scheme offers.
