Health Insurance After Policyholder Dies
  • Understanding Policy Terms & Conditions
  • Health Insurance Death Clauses
  • Kinds of Health Insurance That Covers Death
Health Insurance After Policyholder Dies
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Simran Kaur Vij
Written By:
Simran

Simran Kaur Vij

Health and Term Insurance

Simran is an insurance expert with more than 4 years of experience in the industry. An expert with previous experience in BFSI, Ed-tech, and insurance, she proactively helps her readers stay on par with all the latest Insurance industry developments.

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Reviewed By:
Anchita Bhattacharyya

Anchita Bhattacharyya

Health, Term & Life Insurance

Anchita has over 6 years of experience in content marketing, insurance, and healthcare sectors. Her motto to make health and term insurance simple for our readers has proven to make insurance lingos simple and easy to understand by our readers.

Himanshu Kumar

Himanshu Kumar

Term Insurance, Content Writer

Content Manager with heart, mind, and soul dedicated to creating impactful content that exceeds the market standard, delivers and reaches the readers conveniently. Besides producing high-ranking content, my focus lies in creating content that solves user queries and adds value.

Himanshu Kumar

Written By: Himanshu Kumar

Updated on Jan 15, 2025

Himanshu Kumar

Anchita Bhattacharyya

Term Insurance, Content Manager

Content Manager with heart, mind, and soul dedicated to creating impactful content that exceeds the market standard, delivers and reaches the readers conveniently. Besides producing high-ranking content, my focus lies in creating content that solves user queries and adds value.

Reviewed By: Anchita Bhattacharyya

15 min read

Rhishabh Garg
Written By: Rhishabh Garg
Rhishabh Garg
Rhishabh Garg Term Insurance Head
Rhishabh Garg is the Business Unit Head of Term Insurance at Policybazaar.com. He has over 10 years of experience and currently plays a crucial role in shaping the future of term insurance in the company. Rhishabh also has experience in customer services and crafts new strategies for organizational success, one of which is Policybazaar’s claim assistance program.
Santosh Agrawal
Reviewed By: Santosh Agrawal
Santosh Agrawal
Santosh AgrawalChief Business Officer
Santosh Agarwal is the Chief Business Officer of life Insurance at Policybazaar.com and has over a decade of experience in the insurance domain. She has helped shape Policybazaar's life insurance vertical and ensures the effective execution of the company's overall strategy. Santosh is also responsible for the Term Insurance for Women domain at Policybazaar.com and educates the masses about its importance and benefits.

What Happens To Health Insurance After Policyholder Dies?

Have you ever wondered, what happens to health insurance after the policyholder’s death? India is witnessing a constant uprise in multiple lifestyle-related diseases such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, respiratory ailments, etc.

Treatments for life-threatening diseases result in hefty medical bills as the treatments are expensive and can drain you financially. Health Insurance plans are built to help you combat medical ailments without breaking the bank.

However, what happens to the health insurance after the policyholder’s demise? A question many ask when purchasing a health insurance plan. Most of you are not aware of the death benefit clause mentioned in health insurance plans.

What does that imply? Does health insurance cover death? Let us find out together.

Review Your Policy Documents For Death Benefit

To cross-check whether your health insurance consists of death benefits, understand that the terms and conditions may vary with different categories of health plans. You must ensure that your family members are also covered under the health insurance plan, after your demise.

Each health insurance plan provides different features which we will understand with an example:

Mr. Nishant and Mr. Gaurav purchased a family floater and an individual health plan respectively.

During the policy tenure, Mr. Nishant faced an accident that led to his unfortunate demise. Since he was a family floater health plan holder, his coverage continued and provided financial security to the other covered members of the family mentioned in the policy.

However, when Mr. Gaurav passed away due to an accident his health plan was terminated but the claim amount was provided to his beneficiary (his wife). The claim covered all the hospitalisation costs, and medical bills calculated during Mr. Gaurav’s treatment.

Now we understand how different health insurance plan categories provide different features. Now, let’s find the answer to the main question ‘Does health insurance cover death?’

Health Insurance Categories and Do They Cover Death?

Read below to understand the impact of the death of a policyholder on each category of health insurance plan available in the market.

  1. Individual Health Insurance

    An individual health insurance plan is liable to cover only one individual. Under an individual health plan, you are entitled to the full amount of the health insurance plan for hospitalisation, daycare, AYUSH, and many other healthcare features.

    Death benefit

    In case of the individual policyholder’s demise, the policy will be terminated. In such a scenario, the family members of the insured individual can raise a claim if the policyholder dies during hospitalisation.

    However, if the policyholder opts for a second insured member under the individual plan, the second insurance member continues to receive health insurance benefits even after the policyholder’s demise.

  2. Family Floater Health Insurance

    A family floater health insurance covers multiple family members under a single sum insured which is shared by all family members till exhaustion within a policy term.

    Death benefit

    In case the primary policyholder passes away, other family members will be covered under the health insurance plan. However, if the primary policyholder paid premiums, the health insurance provider must be intimated immediately.

    This allows the health insurer to update the policy details of the primary policyholder.

  3. Group Health Insurance

    Group health insurance is a health cover provided to you by your employer. The health insurance plan benefits and features are decided by the employer as per the overall requirements of its employees.

    The group health insurance is similar to a family floater health plan, with the employer having major control over the health plan.

    Death benefit

    In case of the employee’s demise, the group health insurance policy will be terminated for the insured individual. The dependants do not receive any coverage unless mentioned in the health insurance policy.

    If the health insurance plan compensates for the death of the employee, it will be provided to the nominee.

  4. Critical Illness Health Insurance

    Critical illness health insurance covers you against the listed health ailments in a policy schedule. The health ailments can range from cancer, strokes, neurological disorders, heart ailments, etc. This category of health insurance will offer you a lump sum amount on diagnosis of any critical ailment covered under the policy.

    Critical illness health insurance requires you to survive for a particular amount of time before the coverage is activated. This period is known as the ‘survival period’.

    Death benefit

    In case of the unfortunate demise of the policyholder within the survival period, there is no death benefit or coverage sum insured paid to the nominee and the policy is terminated.

  5. Senior Citizen Health Insurance

    A senior citizen health insurance plan covers you if you are above 60 years old. This category of health insurance is similar to an individual health insurance plan.

    Death benefit

    In case of the unfortunate demise of the policyholder, a senior citizen’s health insurance plan is terminated automatically. The health insurance provider covers you only for the treatments availed but not for a death benefit.

Summing It Up

It is necessary to understand the death clause in your health insurance plan to figure out what happens to health insurance after the policyholder dies. This information is crucial for you and your family members, regardless of the category of health plan you have opted for.

It is also unfair to assume that all health insurance plans come with a death clause or will provide continued coverage after the policyholder’s demise. Make an informed decision by reading all the terms and conditions carefully or connect with our insurance experts at PolicyX.

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What Happens To Health Insurance After Policyholder Dies: FAQs

1. How to claim health insurance in case the spouse passes away?

In case of the unfortunate demise of your spouse, you can claim expenses for medical treatments availed by your spouse if he/she was covered under your health insurance policy.

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Simran Kaur Vij

Written By: Simran Kaur Vij

Simran is an insurance expert with more than 4 years of experience in the industry. An expert with previous experience in BFSI, Ed-tech, and insurance, she proactively helps her readers stay on par with all the latest Insurance industry developments.