Company health cover is the default for most salaried households in India, and it is also the most fragile layer: it can end on the last working day, on resignation, or on a layoff notice. The risk is not only losing cashless access for a month. It is restarting waiting periods on a new individual policy because continuity was never documented.

Method and data basis

Built from IRDAI portability and continuity directions (waiting-period credit, moratorium, certificate requirements), standard group policy exit rules, and BimaNiti analysis of where employer cover already fails before job exit (for example maternity under a group floater). This is a buyer checklist for the transition, not legal advice on notice periods under employment law.

What ends, and what might not

  • Active employee cover: usually stops when employment stops, or at the group policy renewal if the insurer removes the exit cohort. Do not assume COB or cashless still works after the exit date without written confirmation.
  • Dependants on the group floater: spouse and children drop with the member unless a conversion or continuation option exists. Ask HR in writing before the last working day.
  • Claims already in flight: discharge after exit can still be contested if the group master policy has ended. Plan admissions before the cut-off where possible, or confirm continuation in writing.
  • Your individual policies: anything you own personally continues. The gap is people who only ever held the company plan.

Continuity options after exit

  • Individual policy already in place: best case. Group years do not automatically credit waiting periods on a separate individual policy unless you ported correctly with certificates; check what your schedule actually says.
  • Port or migrate with proof: when moving group to individual or insurer to insurer, request a portability certificate listing served waiting periods, sum insured continuity and moratorium status. Under IRDAI rules, credit depends on documentation, not memory.
  • Conversion rights: some group wordings allow converting to a retail policy without fresh underwriting for a limited window after exit. Ask HR and the insurer for the conversion clause by name.
  • Buy individual cover early: if conversion is unavailable, buy while you are still employed and medically unchanged. Age and disclosure history set price more than unemployment status does.

Thirty-day action list

  • Get group exit date and any continuation clause from HR in writing.
  • List every policy you actually own versus only the company plan.
  • Request portability or conversion paperwork before the last working day, not after.
  • Buy a personal floater or individual health policy with adequate sum insured if nothing else exists.
  • Confirm cashless network status for your usual hospitals under the new policy.
  • Store proposal answers, prior claim history and certificates where you control access.

Job loss without income is a second problem

Cover continuity is health. Liquidity is cash. Unemployment does not cancel premiums; grace and revival rules still apply on personal policies. Size the emergency fund for at least the notice period plus three months of premiums and EMIs so a forced switch is a decision, not a panic purchase.

What not to do

Do not cancel a personal policy because the company plan looked comprehensive. Do not let a broker reset waiting periods by filing a fresh proposal as if you had never been covered. Do not assume COB rules that applied while employed still apply after exit without reading the master policy exit terms.

Connect the cluster

For how portability certificates should read, see the portability guide and the portability trap explainer. For where employer cover already fails on maternity, see the office cover piece. For waiting-period mechanics on any new policy, see the waiting-periods guide.