Grace period is the amount of time given by the insurance company to the insured customer to renew the policy by paying the renewal premium after the expiry of the policy. The grace period in a retail or personal health insurance policy would range from 15 days to 30 days depending on the type of health insurance policy and the insurance company. If the insured customer is not able to renew within the grace period, then the health insurance policy would lapse resulting in the loss of the benefits accumulated till date.
Grace period is provided to customers so that the renewal would be done within the time and the policy could be continued without a break. In the case of retail health insurance policy there is a concept of waiting periods and NCB due to which the renewal of policy within the grace period plays an important role in continuing these benefits.
There are certain waiting periods in a retail health insurance policy which needs to be satisfied before an insured can make a claim under the policy. They are:-
- Pre-existing waiting period is the condition in which the existing illnesses or diseases would not be covered until a particular period. The pre-existing conditions are those illnesses or diseases which exist prior to taking the health insurance policy.
- Specific waiting period is the condition in which certain illnesses or diseases would not be covered for a certain period.
- Initial waiting period in which the insured need to wait for at least 30 days during which hospitalization due to illness or disease will not be covered. Hospitalization due to accidents will be covered during the initial waiting period.
In a health insurance policy the insured customer would have accrued the waiting period benefits which would be lapsed if the policy is not renewed on time. There are other benefits which are accrued in a health insurance policy such as the no claim bonus which would be valid only as long as the policy is in force. Grace period is the time given to the insured customer by the insurance company to renew the policy to prevent the lapsation of policy and thereby losing the accrued benefits. Grace period is the period during which the cover would not be in force but the accrued benefits would remain valid till the expiry of the period.
During the grace period no claims would be admitted by the insurance company as the cover would not be valid under the policy. Grace period is the time given by the insurance company to the customer to renew the policy by paying the renewal premium. Grace period is usually 15 to 30 days depending on the type of health insurance policy and the insurance company. There is no grace period in group health insurance policy as the group health insurance policy does not have any of the above-mentioned benefits such as waiting period, no claim bonus. Click Here for more information.
