health insurance terms and conditions, what is moratorium period, what is waiting period, what is free look period, what is look back period | Personal Finance News

Moratorium period: Did you know that the health insurance cover that you purchased recently has a moratorium period? Also called look-back period, the moratorium period holds importance for the treatment if pre-existing medical conditions under your existing health insurance plan.

Health insurance terms and conditions. (Photo credit: Pexels)

New Delhi: While purchasing a health insurance policy for yourself and your family, you may come across a term called ‘moratorium period’. If this is the first time that you are hearing about this term, don’t be hassled. Just know that this is a part of every health insurance policy and differs from ‘free-look period ‘ and ‘waiting period’.

What is moratorium period in health insurance policy?

A moratorium period in a health insurance policy is a special waiting period imposed by the insurer. Another name for the moratorium period is the ‘look back period’. Let’s explain this with an example:

Suppose you have purchased a health cover. Now, after 4 years you need to seek treatment for a health condition such as arthritis. If the insurer feels that you had a pre-existing arthritis condition which he had withheld while buying the health cover, the company may reject your claim.

Common pre-existing conditions that are not covered by insurers for individual healtg plans include:

• Diabetes
• Blood pressure
• Arthritis

However, if you seek treatment for your condition after 5 years of buying the policy, the insurer cannot reject your claim even if the treatment is for a pre-existing condition. This is because the moratorium period has expired after crossing the 5-year mark.  Once the moratorium period is over, the insurer is obliged to cover all your health-related expenses. This also marks an end to any kind of waiting period.

In the eventuality wherein you port your health insurance plan, you don’t need to worry about the moratorium period since the previous policy moratorium period will be added to the new policy moratorium period. The moratorium period has been slashed to 5 years from 8 years earlier.

What is waiting period?

The waiting period is the time interval for which one must wait before availing coverage for the treatment of certain medical conditions. This is also called the “cooling off period”. Every company has a different waiting period for pre-existing conditions. The waiting period has been fixed at 3 years by the insurance regulator IRDAI.