One of the major differences between individual insurance and group insurance would be the number of lives insured under the policy. With individual policies one or two lives would normally be insured while in a group plan several lives would be insured under a Master Contract. Group plans provide a Master Contract between an employer and the Insurance Company. The employees would receive a document known as a Certificate of Insurance which would provide the specific coverage. Another major difference would involve the underwriting process. Normally, each individual would be reviewed by the insurance company underwriters prior to the issuance of the policy. With group policies the size of the group would determine whether an individual would be underwritten or not. Typically, policies are issued without individual underwriting on groups with over ten employees. You will find, however, exceptions to this rule from time to time. As an example, some insurance companies will individually underwrite groups with less than fifteen employees. Another distinctive difference is that group plans will continue indefinitely, unlike individual policies which would end when an individual insured dies.
