Free look Period in Health Insurance

Sometimes, people may purchase a health insurance plan without adequate research and understanding of what their chosen policy offers. This often translates to buying a plan that may not suit their requirement and lead to unanticipated out-of-pocket expenses during claims. To tackle this common problem, The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) directed insurers to offer a feature called the Free Look Period in health insurance policies. In this article, we will shed light on the Free Look Period, how it works, and the benefits it offers.

The Free Look Period, is a time period during which you are free to evaluate the policy purchased from a health insurance company. If you do not like the policy or discover certain clauses that you feel are not appropriate for you, you can cancel the policy. Depending upon their rules and regulations, the insurer may or may not deduct some basic expenses before returning the money you paid as insurance premium. 

You must carefully review the inclusions and exclusions mentioned in the policy document to get a basic understanding of the plan. If the policy does not offer the features promised by the insurer during the purchase journey and you want to get a refund, you must notify the insurance company in writing along with the reason for cancellation. Remember that you must cancel the policy during the free look time to receive a full refund.

You must first be qualified for the Free Look Period feature. This means you'll need to get a health insurance plan that is valid for at least one year. Secondly, you must return the policy within the Free Look Period, which is typically 15 days. The insurance company may not allow a refund if you wish to cancel the policy after 15 days. 

Here's an example of how the Free look Period works.

Mr A bought the 25L ACKO Platinum Health Insurance Plan online. He was in a hurry, so he could not analyse his requirements and went for the 25 lakh sum insured plan. However, after thinking about his decision on the weekend and discussing it with his family, he realised that the 25-lakh sum insured won’t be enough. Thus, he decided to take advantage of ACKO’s Free Look Period feature, cancelled his 25 lakh policy, and received a refund. And then proceeded to purchase the 50L ACKO Platinum Health Insurance Plan instead.

The main benefit of the Free Look Period in insurance is the ability to cancel the policy without losing the paid premium. It enables you to cancel the policy and save money that would otherwise have been spent on a policy that does not meet your needs. It is wiser to cancel the policy and receive a full refund than being stuck with it for a year, even after knowing it is not useful for certain claims.

Here are the steps highlighting how to cancel your health insurance policy in the Free Look Period.

Note: You need to upload soft copies of the required documents through the app or via email, as requested by our customer care executive.