How to Port Group Health Insurance to Individual Plan in 2025-26?

2025-05-12

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Changing jobs or leaving your employer doesn’t just mean a new role and fresh challenges—it often means your group health insurance ends too. But losing that coverage doesn’t have to leave you unprotected. The good news? You can port your group health insurance plan to an individual policy, ensuring you and your family stay covered without interruption.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to port your group health insurance plan to an individual policy, ensuring seamless protection for you and your family.

Key Takeaways

Group health insurance ends when your employment does, unless you port it within 45 days.
Porting converts your group cover into a personal plan, carrying forward waiting periods and rider benefits.
Apply to port during your notice period for zero coverage gaps.
After 12 months, you can port your insurance again to another insurer if desired.
Porting benefits to freelancers, entrepreneurs, late-career professionals, and anyone seeking insurance continuity.

What is Group Health Insurance and Why Do Employers Offer It?

Group insurance schemes are master policies employers buy to insure employees and, frequently, dependents under a single master contract. These plans form the backbone of most corporate benefit programmes because they offer:

Cashless hospitalisation at network hospitals, so you don’t have to pay upfront for care.
Coverage for pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses (within set limits), making each stage of treatment more affordable.
Immediate protection for pre-existing conditions, bypassing the usual waiting periods that apply to new individual policies.
Maternity benefits often include delivery and prenatal care.
Lower or zero premiums for employees, thanks to the employer’s ability to negotiate group rates.

Porting Group Health Cover Beyond Job Change

Porting your group health insurance to an individual plan is essential not just during job changes, but also if you:

Retire or take a career break
Switch to freelancing or entrepreneurship
Lose your job unexpectedly
Face a company closure or downsizing
Want to ensure continued coverage for dependent family members

By porting, you maintain uninterrupted health insurance, carry forward waiting period credits for pre-existing conditions, and turn a temporary workplace benefit into a lifelong personal asset.

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The Compelling Benefits of Porting Your Coverage

The following are some of the benefits stating why you should port your health insurance coverage:

Ongoing Protection: No lapse in coverage ensures you're continually protected against medical costs, regardless of status.
Carrying Over Waiting Period Credits: Any time already spent under your group coverage goes toward the waiting period on your new individual policy, getting you 2–4 years' wait time waived for pre-existing conditions.
Keeping Add-ons: Maternity, critical illness, OPD, and other rider benefits can be preserved, as long as the individual plan package contains them.
Financial Flexibility: Turn a corporate benefit into a personal asset—your policy accompanies you when you freelance, take a sabbatical, or switch to a new company.
Personalised Plans: Personal policies enable you to select larger sums insured, include favourite riders, and adjust your cover according to evolving life stages.

Eligibility: Who Can Port and When?

The employee is not the only one allowed to port. Individuals covered under a group health policy, such as their spouse, children, or dependent parents, can port to an individual plan. The current group policy must permit retail conversion, and the porting must be to a plan from the same insurer.

The porting procedure should begin 30 to 45 days before the group policy expires. As a result, all members will be able to shift easily and maintain their continuous medical coverage.

Step-by-Step Guide to Porting Your Group Health Insurance to an Individual Plan

Porting your group health insurance to an individual plan is a straightforward process if you follow the right steps. Here’s a detailed, step-by-step guide to help you navigate the transition smoothly:

1. Understand Your Policy Terms and Portability Clause - Before you start the porting process, review your group health insurance policy to check if it includes a portability clause. Most group policies in India allow porting, but the specific terms and procedures may vary.

2. Notify Your Insurer in Advance - The first official step is to inform your current group health insurance provider of your intention to switch to an individual plan. Ideally, you should do this 45–60 days before your group policy expires or your employment ends. Early notification ensures that the process is initiated without delays and gives you enough time to complete all formalities.

3. Request and Fill Out the Portability Forms - Once you’ve notified your insurer, request the necessary portability and proposal forms. These forms typically require details about your existing policy, personal information, medical history, and the plan you wish to switch to. Fill out the forms accurately and double-check all entries to avoid processing delays.

4. Gather and Submit Required Documents - Along with the portability form, you’ll need to submit supporting documents. These usually include:

ID and address proof
Details of your current group policy (policy number, sum insured, coverage period)
Claim history (if any)
Medical records or health questionnaire
Proof of employment separation (if applicable)

Submitting these documents helps the insurer assess your risk and ensures continuity of benefits.

5. Undergo Medical Assessment (If Required) - Depending on your age and health status, the insurer may require you to undergo a medical checkup or health assessment. This is more common if you’re older or have a history of medical conditions.

6. Select the Right Individual Health Plan - While you’re waiting for your application to be processed, research and compare individual health plans from various insurers. Focus on factors such as coverage options, sum insured, premiums, and additional benefits like riders or wellness programmes. You can choose to port your policy to the same insurer or explore options from other providers, but porting to the same insurer is often simpler and may allow you to retain more benefits.

7. Review and Confirm Policy Terms - Once your application is approved, the insurer will issue a new individual health policy. Carefully review the policy document to ensure that all the benefits from your previous group policy are correctly ported to the new plan.

8. Pay the Premium - Unlike group policies, which are usually paid by your employer, you will need to pay the premium for your individual health insurance plan yourself. After your application is approved, pay the premium as specified by the insurer to activate your new policy.

Did You Know?

When porting health insurance, IRDAI mandates that new insurers credit waiting periods already served for pre-existing conditions.

Source: IRDAI

Critical Considerations Before Porting

Before you sign, do a side-by-side comparison:

Sum Insured: Make sure it is in sync with your projected healthcare costs, inflation, and family requirements.
Premium Differences: Individual policies are generally more expensive; compare affordability and investigate yearly vs. lifetime renewability choices.
Rider Availability: Check if important riders, such as maternity, OPD, etc., are accessible and cost-effective.
Network Hospitals: Check if your preferred hospitals are empanelled under the new policy.
Exclusions & Waiting Clauses: Scan the brochure's fine print for certain procedures that might still have waiting periods.
Claim Settlement Ratio & Service Quality: Investigate insurer performance ratings and consumer reviews.

Consequences of Missing the Porting Deadline

If you do not initiate porting within the 45-day period:

You will be forced to purchase a brand-new individual policy.
All waiting periods reset for pre-existing conditions and critical procedures.
You may face higher premiums or reduced cover for already-known health issues.
If hospitalisation is needed immediately after exit, you’ll be responsible for full treatment costs.

To avoid these pitfalls, sync your exit timeline with your insurance porting timeline.

Consequences of Missing the Porting Deadline

If you do not initiate porting within the 45-day period:

You will be forced to purchase a brand-new individual policy.
All waiting periods reset for pre-existing conditions and critical procedures.
You may face higher premiums or reduced cover for already-known health issues.
If hospitalisation is needed immediately after exit, you’ll be responsible for full treatment costs.

To avoid these pitfalls, sync your exit timeline with your insurance porting timeline.

Conclusion

Porting your group health plan into an individual policy guarantees lifelong continuity, maintains hard-earned benefits, and transforms a temporary workplace benefit into a pillar of your financial strategy.

If you're willing to maintain your coverage, Canara HSBC Life Insurance provides flexible individual health plans that can adjust to your changing needs—job changes, additions to the family, and life's unexpected twists.

Glossary

Porting: Transferring an existing insurance policy to a new one without losing earned benefits.
Waiting Period: A specified time—often 2–4 years—before an insurer covers pre-existing diseases.
Riders/Add-ons: Optional benefits like maternity, OPD, or critical illness that enhance base policies.
Sum Insured: The maximum amount an insurer pays for covered claims.
Claim Settlement Ratio: The percentage of claims paid out by an insurer, indicating reliability.

FAQs

Yes, you can. Under IRDAI guidelines, if you're covered under a group health insurance plan provided by your employer, you can port that coverage to an individual health insurance policy with the same insurer. However, you must apply for this conversion within 45 days before your group policy expires or your employment ends.

Absolutely. Converting a group policy to an individual policy is a regulated process called porting. It allows you to maintain continuity in health coverage, especially for pre-existing conditions, by carrying forward waiting period credits and other accrued benefits. This is especially helpful when leaving a job or retiring.

When you switch jobs in India, your employer-provided group health insurance usually ends on your last working day or shortly after. Unless your new employer offers coverage from day one, this creates a gap in protection. Porting your group plan to an individual policy ensures you're not left uninsured during this transition.

While porting offers continuity, a few drawbacks include:

Higher Premiums: Individual plans often cost more than group plans, especially with add-ons.
Limited Porting Options: Not all benefits or riders may transfer seamlessly.
Medical Tests: You may need to undergo medical screening, especially if you're older or have a health history. Still, these are minor compared to the financial risk of having no coverage.

Follow these steps:

Notify your HR or insurer about your intent to port, ideally during your notice period.
Select a plan from the insurer's offerings.
Submit documents like ID proof, employment separation letter, and current policy details.
Undergo a medical check-up if required.
Pay the premium and receive your individual policy loaded with the waiting period credits from your group plan.

Disclaimer - This article is issued in the general public interest and meant for general information purposes only. The views expressed in this blog are solely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Canara HSBC Life Insurance Company Limited or any affiliated entity. We make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability, or availability with respect to the blog or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained in the blog for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk. You should consult with a qualified professional regarding your specific circumstances before taking any action based on the content provided herein.

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