An exit desk that keeps health cover going when someone leaves a job
TL;DR Jobgapcover is an exit desk that employers add to offboarding. When someone resigns or is laid off, it checks when their group health cover ends, files the same-insurer migration in time and finds a retail policy if migration fails. Employers pay a fee per exit and insurers pay commission on retail policies.
For most salaried Indians, health cover means the employer's group policy. It usually ends on the last working day or a few days after, and the spouse, kids and parents on it lose cover the same day[1].
The law lets a member move to a retail policy with the same insurer and carry waiting-period credit, but the insurer underwrites the request, may ask for medical tests and generally gives credit only up to the old group sum insured[1]. Not every group policy allows conversion, and only indemnity hospitalisation plans qualify[2].
Timing is the trap. Experts quoted by one personal-finance magazine say to start 30–45 days before exit[1]. How many people know that while they're serving notice? Very few, and the guides disagree on the exact window, so check your own policy.
First, the regulatory bit - Jobgapcover does insurance broking or corporate agency for retail health policies, with paperwork help on migration. It does not underwrite. The insurer decides every migration and every retail application, and Jobgapcover gives no medical advice.
When HR accepts a resignation or plans a layoff, Jobgapcover gets a trigger from the HR system and contacts the employee directly, with their consent. An adviser reviews who's covered, any conditions diagnosed during employment and the group sum insured. Jobgapcover then files the migration request with the group insurer at least 30 days before the last day, and in parallel it gets two or three retail quotes in case the insurer refuses or prices it too high. Before the group cover ends, the employee has a policy schedule and written confirmation of which waiting-period credits moved.
The original version of this idea pitched bundling lots of micro-covers to fill gaps. Comparing and selling policies is what brokers and aggregators already do. The gap with a date on it is the day group cover stops.
The employee pays the retail premium. The employer pays Jobgapcover a fee per exit, which I'm assuming at ₹1,000–3,000, as part of a humane offboarding or layoff package. Jobgapcover also earns commission from insurers on retail policies placed. Right now employees mostly sort this out alone, sometimes with help from insurance advisory firms, one of which says it has helped over 3,00,000 customers[2].
Layoffs at big employers keep this in the news - one of the largest IT services firms announced about 12,000 job cuts, around 2% of its workforce, in July 2025[3]. IRDAI's May 2024 health master circular set tighter timelines on cashless claims and porting[4]. That magazine ran a guide on keeping cover after a layoff in October 2026[1], which tells you readers still struggle with it.
I found no public count of Indians who lose group health cover on leaving a job each year. One broker's book gives a sense of scale. One group-health broker covers 600,000+ lives across 6,000+ companies[5].
At an assumed 15% annual attrition, that book alone would see about 90,000 exits a year. The attrition rate is my assumption, so test it with real HR data.
Group-health brokers sell cover to employers as registered brokers and run HR dashboards and claims help[5][6]. Neither of the two I checked mentions a service for employees who leave. Insurance advisory firms advise individuals and publishes guides on converting corporate cover[2], but they aren't built into the employer's exit process.
The gap is a service HR triggers at resignation, while there's still time to migrate.
| Difficulty | Moderate (38/100) |
| Starting capital | ₹35–70 L |
| Time to launch | 4–6 months |
The software is light. The hard parts are getting HR teams to add a step to offboarding and getting group insurers to process migrations on time. Advisers must also handle sensitive health histories carefully, because a missed disclosure can void the new policy.
Yes, placing retail policies for commission needs IRDAI registration.
Building this outside India? The categories above usually have a local equivalent, so check with your own regulator.
Don't let AI decide what health history to disclose or give medical advice. A missed disclosure can void a policy, so a trained adviser handles every case.
Want to work out the AI layer for Jobgapcover? Talk to Yash →
Here's what can go south -
I think this is a sensible, narrow business, and narrow is fine. It suits a founder from health insurance broking or HR benefits who can sell to HR heads. If you want consumer scale quickly then this won't give it to you.
Prove two things first - that five employers will pay per exit, and that at least 60% of employees who start the process end up with continuous cover.
Plan for roughly ₹35–70 L, mostly for IRDAI registration, trained advisers and HR system integrations.
Yes, if you place retail policies for commission. That needs IRDAI registration as a broker or corporate agent. The insurer still decides every migration.
It can be a sensible, narrow business. Revenue comes from an employer fee per exit plus commission on retail policies, and both need testing with real HR teams.
The free Jobgapcover validation kit has the line-by-line capital breakdown, the effort scoring, the migration and data-protection checklist, a 14-day validation sprint with pass/fail targets, a 90-day launch plan, 10 interview questions for HR heads and employees, and 5 assumptions to test. Download the kit →
Thinking about building Jobgapcover or something close to it? The make-or-break work is getting HR teams to trigger the desk early enough for migration to work, and that's exactly the kind of thing I help founders with. If you need a hand, you know where to find me. Talk to Yash →
For illustration only. Names are fictional and ideas hypothetical; sourced facts are real but may be out of date. Nothing here is legal, financial or professional advice, and Yash Khatri is not personally liable for any use of it. Read the full disclaimer.