What is the Free Look Period in Health Insurance Policy? – Know Features & Benefits of Free Look Period

When you buy a health insurance plan, there are several terms and elements that are a part of it, all of which may not unfortunately be clear to the policyholder. Regardless, it is important to have a fair idea of some of the major terms commonly used in health insurance so that you know exactly how to avail the benefits of the plan when the need arises. One such term commonly used in health insurance plans is the free look period. Here we discuss in detail what this terms means in your mediclaim policy, what are its benefits, and how useful it is for you as the policyholder to consider this when buying health insurance for yourself or your loved ones. Read on.

What is the Free Look Period for Health Insurance?

In simple terms, free look period refers to a term offered by the health insurance company to the policyholder under which the latter has the flexibility to review the company’s policies and its terms and conditions. In addition, upon thorough review, the policyholder may also choose to terminate the purchased policy, if they so desire. Generally speaking, most health insurance providers offer a free look period of 15-30 days to their policyholders wherein they are free to terminate the policy upon review.

How Does the Free Look Period Work?

So we already discussed that a policyholder has the right under health insurance to review and even terminate the policy purchased in case they don’t seem satisfied with its provisions or terms and conditions. The health insurer would provide a total tenure of 15-30 days for this review/termination, which is termed as the Free Look Period.

Note that this period would commence from the date the policy contract was received by the policyholder and last for 15-30 days (as specified by the respective insurer). Also, it is worth noting here that though the insurer provides the choice of termination during the free look period, the insured must provide on their part a valid and reasonable reason for termination of the purchased policy.

In addition to stating the reason, the policyholder would also be required to submit the policy contract as well as other relevant documents pertaining to the said policy to the insurer. The insurer would then consider the termination request and in case approved, the insurer would process the refund amount to the bank account of the insured. This is the amount paid by the insured to the insurer while purchasing the policy.

Features and Benefits of the Free Look Period in Health Insurance

Now that we know what a free look period is and also how it works, it’s important to highlight the key features attached to this tenure as well as the top benefits that the policyholder has with this provision. Let us look at these in the table below:

Features of Free Look Period	Benefits of Free Look Period to the Policyholder
Time limit offered by insurer – minimum 15 days from the date of receipt of insurance contract; max 30 days	Allows sufficient time to the policyholder for thorough review of the policy after purchase and request for cancellation if dissatisfied
Details to be submitted to insurer – valid reason for policy termination, date of receipt of policy, bank account details of policyholder	Refund of amount paid for the policy to the insured in case they are not satisfied with the terms and conditions laid out in the policy
Refund to insured – Amount paid for purchase of policy refunded to the insured, barring some deduction for medical test fee, stamp duty charges, etc.	Free look period provided for all types of insurance plans, regardless of the type of insurance purchased
Request for termination – Policy termination request to be filed with the insurer upon review and dissatisfaction on part of the insured; request to be made online or offline	Policy can be returned without a significant loss of money paid as premium
Submission of documents for cancellation – Receipt of last premium paid by insured, canceled cheque	Certain features or T&C not considered at the time of policy purchase can be reviewed during the free look period

 

Steps to Terminate Health Insurance Within the Free Look Period

We learned above that the free look period can be quite useful for policyholders especially if they hadn’t been as careful in considering the terms and conditions of the plan at the time of its purchase. They can review the same carefully during the free look period and request the insurer for policy cancellation if they so desire. Let us look at the exact step-by-step procedure to do the same:

1. In case you wish to apply for cancellation of the purchased health insurance plan during the 15-30 day free look period, you need to make a formal request to the insurance company via email. Make sure to state a valid and justified reason for policy cancellation.
2. The insurer would seek some relevant documents pertaining to the health insurance policy that is requested to be canceled. Submit the same to the insurer.
3. Upon receipt of the required documents, the insurer will review the request filed and proceed with verification of the same.
4. Upon verification of the application, the insurance company would proceed with policy cancellation and process refund of the amount paid towards policy purchase into the bank account of the policyholder.