Group Health Insurance, Group Medical Insurance, Health Insurance Group, Medical Insurance Group

A group health insurance policy is offered by the employer to all employees in order to provide protection prevent them from financial losses in the event of an illness, disease or accident. A group medical insurance plan can differ significantly between employers. Some employers provide basic healthcare, while others might use other health insurance group plans that also cover the employee’s family members. In a medical insurance group policy, only the employer has business relationships with the insurance company and not the insured employees.

An employer can also offer an individual health insurance plan to employees or an employee can choose from a range of health insurance plans that differ in cover and premiums. Employers can also choose for group health insurance plans for part-time, full-time and senior employees.

Benefits of Group Health Insurance

A group health insurance policy offers true benefits to the employees.

An individual health policy will not be available to a person with pre-existing illness but the insurance company has to such a person under the group plan.

One has to appear for a medical screening test before buying an individual health cover. With a group health insurance plan, no screening is required. The insurance company has no escape. It either accepts all the employees or loses entire business.

An individual plan is expensive and has restricted coverage, whereas group medical insurance has extended coverage at a reasonable amount. The payment, if any, for the health insurance group plan is automatically deducted from the salary.

Some large companies also opt for a tailor-made group health insurance policy. Depending on the size of group, the employer can negotiate a deal with the insurance company that will be beneficial to all the employees. The deal can also involve regular doctor visits to the company to address health issues of the employees.

Types of Group Health Insurance

Depending on the payment made by the employee, group medical insurance plans can be divided into the following:

Free medical cover for all the employees.

Employee has to pay a small amount of the premium.

Free for the employee but payment for family cover.

Employee has to pay entire premium of an individual health insurance policy with group benefits.

Thus, an individual medical policy is usually profitable for the insurance company, while a group health insurance policy benefits the consumer. However, people covered under a group medical insurance plan can also opt for individual healthcare for added facilities.