One of the most asked questions in buying policies related to health insurance has been, what is the age after which the insurance companies won’t sell you a health insurance policy.
Health insurances are required to allow in ordinary cases that they offer insurance policies to people who are 65 years old or less.
Health insurance policies like the one you get when you are travelling, or personal accident insurances may not have to follow the 65-year limit.
What does the law read for the health insurance age limit-
12. Entry and Exit Age
- Except as provided for in regulation 17(i), all health insurance policies shall ordinarily provide for an entry age of at least up to 65 years
- Except travel insurance products, personal accident products and Pilot Products referred to in Regulation 2(i) (l) herein, once a proposal is accepted and a policy is issued which is thereafter renewed periodically without any break, further renewal shall not be denied on grounds of the age of the insured.
Section 17 (i) reads as-
17. Migration of health insurance policy (not applicable for Travel and Personal Accident policies)
i. #General insurers and health insurers offering indemnity based health covers shall offer an option to the policyholders to migrate to a suitable alternative health insurance policy available at the time of modification or withdrawal of the policy.
- Further, indemnity based health covers offered to
- specific age groups, students,
- children under family floater policies,
- Every policy migrated shall be allowed suitable credits for all the previous policy years, provided the policy has been maintained without a break.
shall also offer an option to such lives to migrate to a suitable alternative health insurance policy available at the specific exit age.
This was recently changed from its previously existing:
# Substituted by Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Health Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019, dated 19th November 2019 (w.e.f 21.11.2019). Prior to its substitution, sub regulation(i) read as under:
- “General Insurers and Health Insurers offering health covers specific to age groups such as
- maternity covers,
- children under family floater policies,
- students etc,
shall offer an option to migrate to a suitable alternative available health insurance policy at the end of the specific exit age or at the time of withdrawal of the policy at the option exercised by the said lives by allowing suitable credits for all the previous policy years, provided the policy has been maintained without a break.”
Accessed 23 May 2020
