At What Age Can A Child Get Their Own Health Insurance?

In India, a child can also have health insurance. It depends on how you consider your child’s insurance coverage. You can either cover them under your existing family plan or start a completely separate plan. Keep reading to know more about this.

How Can a Child Get Their Health Insurance?

The latest IRDAI (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) guidelines have laid down certain specific milestones on how a child can get health insurance:

1. Independent Policyholder

Your child needs to be 18 years of age to be an independent health insurance policyholder. This is the age group when they legally grow as adults and can sign off on the insurance contract and pay their premiums. It means that now they can handle the policy independently.

2. Standalone Child Policy

The next is the standalone child policy. Your child can own his own separate individual health policy. They must be 90 days old here, and you or a legal guardian should act as the proposer.

Parents opt for this policy type to ensure their child has a ‘sum insured’ independent of their family. 90 days is a standard age here. However, some insurers do offer "Newborn Cover" to your 1-day-old child as well. The only criterion for this is that it should be a maternity add-on to the mother’s policy.

3. Family Floater Dependant

Mostly, Indian families cover their child under their ‘Family Floater’ plan itself. You can cover your child until they reach age 25. If your child gets married or becomes financially independent before age 25, you may need to move them to an individual policy. This move can be covered under the next policy renewal.

4. Mandatory Migration

Once your child attains 25 years of age, they need to exit your family floater plan. The IRDAI rules allow you to move your child to an independent standalone policy. However, the insurer should carry forward the existing ‘waiting period credits.’

In case your child was covered under your family floater for 5 years, they might have a chance to escape the waiting period for pre-existing conditions of the new individual policy.

Summary of Indian Age Requirements

Here are the age requirements for the health insurance regulations:

Health insurance for children in India is designed to grow with them. From newborns covered under a parent’s plan to independent policies in adulthood, there are flexible options at every stage.

Choosing the right cover early can help ensure continuous protection and smoother transitions as your child becomes financially independent.