In a recent survey conducted, we came to know that about 50% of our registered users do not know the difference between an insurance broker and an agent. As a broker, I feel I need to create awareness about the difference. So, here it is

Insurance Broker, that is,  www.easyinsuranceindia.com	Insurance Agent	Customer Benefit seeking broker to identify suitable insurance
Represents the customers and DOES NOT represent any particular insurance company	Represents only one company (one for life and one for non life)	Brokers are better equipped to meet customers' requirements
Can sell any product from any company	Can sell only the products of the company he/she represents	Brokers are able to offer wide variety of choices because they can identify policies from any company based on customer requirement
Insurance companies give us best policy benefits and premium rates for our customers since we have choice on the companies we can go to	Less influential since they represent only one company	Negotiate better benefits on policies and best premium rates (this applies largely to commercial insurance)
Insurance companies respond better to us when it comes to settling disputed claims because we represent the customers	Less influential since they represent only that company	We can represent the customer more effectively during the time of claim especially if there is a dispute
Brokers have a much more stringent norms and come under scrutiny by IRDA before getting/renewing broker license	Less stringent norms to obtain agency license	Brokers have a fully functional company to provide continuous customer service
In addition to the above, we add more value as broker to you compared to other brokers.
www.easyinsuranceindia.com is owned and operated by us - a licensed broker		Other web sites may or may not be owned by a licensed broker
Retail business is a separate focus area for us (SBU)		Most brokers focus only on corporate businesses
Full-fledged customer care, and back office to help you and answer all your questions.		No such customer care / back office exists for retail customers
We sell even non-money making policies such as third party only policy, Rural insurance, Insurance for poor, etc.		Not offered by any other brokers online because these products don't result in any earnings for brokers or event agents
Your personal/contact information is NOT SOLD or GIVEN to anyone. It is given only to the insurance company whose policy you purchase		Your personal / contact information may be sold to various insurance companies
We offer comprehensive list of all policies that a customer would ever want such as Health, life (both traditional as well as ULIP), motor including third party, personal accident, travel, home, etc.		Other sites are not as comprehensive as ours

Difference between Health Insurance sold by Life Insurance companies and the same sold by General Insurance Companies

Greetings ! You may notice that just about every insurance company today sells some policy or another that focuses on health related risks. You should know the difference between the two basic categories of health insurance and which one is appropriate for you. Here are some basic differences: Health policies Sold by GENERAL Insurance Companies Health policies Sold by LIFE Insurance Companies The expenses incurred due to hospitalization like room charges, surgery, medicines, etc. are reimbursed (or) paid directly by the insurance company (in case of cashless benefit) Fixed amount is paid as per policy, regardless of the expenses incurred. The actual expenses may be more or less. If you have more than one health insurance, then the claim, if any, is paid by sharing between such insurances You can claim even if you have already claimed from health insurance with a general insurance company The premium has to be paid first in one payment to get cover for the year The premium can be paid as monthly, quarterly, or annual basis Need to wait 30 days before any claim can be made Need to wait 90 days before any claim can be made Premium differs from one year to the next depending on claim during current year Premium is generally fixed for three years – after that, it may change The policy term is mostly for one year The policy term is generally for longer duration, 10 years or even 15 years Cannot return the policy after purchasing it You can return the policy within 15 days if you decide that you do not want the policy There is no life insurance benefit or maturity benefit There may be life insurance component and may or may not have maturity benefit Both kinds of health policies have: Medical check requirement Waiting period for various diseases Exclusions Maximum payable amount applicable So, how do you know which policy you should purchase? Here is what I recommend: If your company already provides health insurance cover, then you can purchase health policies sold by Life insurance companies. If you are hospitalized, your company's medical policy will cover the expenses. Over and above that, you can still legally file a claim under the health policy that you have from life insurance companies. Many times, when we are hospitalized, there are many expenses like caretaker's food, transportation, hospital administrative costs, etc. that the health insurance under General Insurance would not cover. If you have a health policy from Life insurance, you can make claim against this so that you can get fixed amount of cash which would help you to meet those additional expenses.