They are very similar to individual health plan with the only difference between the two being rather than covering a health plan for a single individual it covers the health plan for each member of the family and the maturity amount is dependent on the number of members in the family at the time of maturity rather than a fixed amount. They are the type of health insurance which covers the health-related issues of more than one member of the family for a fixed sum assured in exchange for a single annual premium.
When it comes to diseases, one spends a lot of money on curing these diseases and the biggest thing one is not sure when they will strike. If something happens to one's family member which causes them to spend a lot of money on the curing of the problem that can be covered with a family health plan. They also provide financial backup at the medical emergency irrespective of whether the plan has matured or not.
Many times it happens when someone goes to claim his/her health insurance or their family goes to claim it at the time of the death, company refuses to pay the amount because the disease was not covered in the plan they chose. It would lead to them with no benefits of choosing this plan.
Another common occurrence nowadays is that the policy covers a certain number of hospitals and the person is forced to go to one of those hospitals so as to have a claim. The issue here is that many times the hospital is far away from his home and he needs to go there to get his problem solved.
Irrespective of the total sum insured of the policy, one may have to pay out-of-pocket hospital bills unless one sticks to the limit. Some health plans do not have any such sub-limits while few others offer an option to add sub-limits.