How to Port Health Insurance to Another Insurer

IRDAI's health insurance portability guidelines allow policyholders to switch from one health insurer to another while retaining key accrued benefits — making portability a powerful consumer right that many policyholders underutilise. The most important benefit of portability is the transfer of waiting period credits: if you have completed 2 years with your current insurer, those 2 years count toward the waiting period at the new insurer, so you don't restart the clock for pre-existing disease coverage. Similarly, your accumulated No Claim Bonus (NCB) is portable to the new insurer.

To initiate portability, start the process at least 45 days before your current policy's renewal date — this is a mandatory timeline. Apply to the new insurer using the portability form and provide your current policy details, previous year policy, and claim history. The new insurer is required to respond within 15 working days.

The new insurer can choose to accept or reject your application, and may offer different terms, coverage, or premium — they are not obligated to match your current insurer's terms. Portability is available for individual plans and family floater plans, but not for group insurance policies. You can increase your sum insured when porting, but the increased portion will be treated as a new policy for waiting period purposes.

Portability is most beneficial when: your current insurer has poor claim settlement, your premiums have increased steeply at renewal, a new insurer offers better features at similar premium, or you are unsatisfied with the claims service. Compare at least 3 insurers before deciding and factor in not just premium but claim settlement ratio, network hospitals, and plan features.