Shifting From ESI To Group Health Insurance

Hi,

How does a growing organization (in various industries such as schools, offset printers, and safety equipment manufacturers) offer group medical insurance similar to those available from insurance companies like ICICI Lombard or United India? Currently, these organizations only provide ESI (Employee State Insurance Act) to all their employees.

As the company expands, some employees are requesting improved health insurance benefits. Now that the company has more than 25 employees and is eligible for Group Health Insurance coverage, what are the formalities and procedures involved?

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Once the company is incorporated, you have to obtain a license from the Inspector of Factories. While applying for the license, you need to mention the people working there. Once you receive the certificate of registration, it is mandatory to provide them with ESI benefits. If your company requires any health insurances, you can opt for group health policies from any insurance company and provide them with a health card too.

How do you shift employees who are currently on ESI to the new Group Health Insurance scheme? Can we remove them from ESI once they are covered by the new insurance policy?

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There was no need for corrections in the user's input. The text was correctly written and the meaning was clear. I have adjusted the paragraph formatting to ensure there is a single line break between the two questions.

ESI is mandatory, and you cannot remove employees from ESI even if they are covered under the group health insurance of any insurance company. If you observe the current trend, many BPO companies are removing associates under ESI cover from group health insurance since they cannot be removed from ESI. Group health insurance is not mandatory.

Hope the above information helps.

Dear,

You cannot compare ESI with group health insurance or mediclaim as both are different. ESI provides a lot of other benefits that group health insurance does not offer. If someone experiences partial or complete disablement at work, ESI provides a pension, while there is no provision for a pension in any group insurance scheme. ESI also covers treatment for your family members, whereas group insurance only covers based on membership. ESI is a social security legislation and cannot be replaced by group mediclaim.

Hi,

There is a wonderful list of answers above. I also recommend that you bring in an expert to help structure your cover to ensure that not only are the benefits you intend to provide competitive but also sustainable over a longer period of time. Benchmarking group health insurance benefits will be greatly beneficial, as well as obtaining competitive quotes from multiple insurers. Please let me know if you need any further assistance.

Regards,
Deepak

ESI provides 5-6 types of facilities under the same contribution. Mediclaim facility does not provide many of them, such as funeral benefits. Please do not mix up ESI and mediclaim facilities - they are two completely different concepts, and their legal scopes are also different.

ESI is mandatory subject to specific industry requirements, while mediclaim is an option for the company. You may use it to attract employees.