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Basics of Corona-Specific Health Policies

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 10:38:31 +0000

By Dheeraj Agrawal Communication Professional

One of the most lethal pandemics of recent times, Covid-19 has put everyone across the globe at great risk. Not having a vaccine makes the disease more serious and scary. It is crippling the global health system and the complete treatments can cost you a bomb. And with cases increasing in multiples each day, almost everyone is in the fear of the infection.

It is therefore wise to get yourself insured against the disease and have your treatment and hospital expenses covered. Insurance companies have rolled two Corona specific policies- Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak based on the guidelines of Indurance Regulatory and Development Authority- IRDAI. The guiding principle is to have a standardised health policy which will cover corona related expenses like the personal protective equipment kit(PPE), masks and if you have to be treated at home then this policy will have provision for home treatment as well.

Two more benefit of having Corona policy in place is – the no-claim bonus on your existing health policy won’t be immediately affected and you don’t have to pay lifetime premiums for it as these policies are short-term policies.These policies are being issued for 3 and a half month, 6 and a half month and 9 and a half month.

Corona Kavach Insurance
The Corona Kavach, also known as Covid Kavach, is an indemnity-type insurance policy benefiting individuals and families. An Indemnity-type policy protects you against unexpected and sudden medical expenses. It lets you take treatment in any hospital and reimburse the hospitalization charges, up to the insured sum.

The Corona Kavach, this Standard Health Policy needs to be compulsorily offered by all general and health insurance companies. Life Insurance companies can’t offer it.

The minimum sum insured for Corona Kavach policy is Rs 50,000 and the maximum sum insured could be up to Rs. 5 lakh. This policy offers a ‘Hospital daily cash’ benefit. This add-on will pay 0.5% of the sum insured per day, up till 15 days, for every 24 hours completed under hospitalisation.

The policy covers all the expenses including, PPE kit, gloves, mask, ventilator and ICU charges, the cost of oximeter and oxygen cylinder, etc. The cover can be taken for individuals, spouse, parents, parents-in-law, and dependent children, who are not more than the age of 25.

The cover can be taken for 3.5 months or 6.5 months, or 9.5 months and is valid till March 2021. The premium rates may vary from company to company.

Corona Rakshak Insurance
The Corona Rakshak, or Covid Rakshak policy is a defined benefit-plan offering fixed compensation upon the diagnosed being hospitalised. The policy will be effective when the policy holder is hospitalised for a minimum of 72-hours. A defined benefit plan does not require submission of any hospital bills and you are paid a pre-defined lump sum amount as per the plan.

The Corona Rakshak policy doesn’t offer dependent benefits and can be availed individually only. It is available for people between the age of 18 and 65. Applicants with comorbidity can also be insured by paying an additional premium.

Both General Insurance Companies and Standalone Health insurance providers can offer Corona Rakshak medical insurance products.

The minimum sum insured for Corona Rakshak is Rs. 50,000 and the maximum limit is Rs.2.5 lakh. Just like Corona Kavach policy this could also be taken for 3 and a half month, 6 and a half month or 9 and a month.

Difference Between the 2 Corona Policies

	Corona Kavach Policy	Corona Rakshak Policy
Policy type	Indemnity based	Defined benefit plan
Minimum Hospitalisation	24 hour	72 hour
Who could take?	Individual & Family	Only Individual
Sum Insured	Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh	Rs 50,000 to Rs 2.5 lakh
Co-morbidity condition due to pre-existing disease	Covered	Covered

Depending upon your age and the time tenure of the policy your premium may differ from insurer to insurer. A 3 and a half month policy of 2.5 lakh sum insured for a 30 year old could be of around Rs 600-800 premium but the same policy for a 40 year plus individual could cost him anywhere between Rs 2500-3500.

Both the policies, have a waiting period of 15-days and pre-medical screening is not required to sign up for these.

Whether you should take a separate policy or not?
If you already have a health insurance policy with a good coverage then you are fine not taking a separate policy. Probably you could get a top-up or a super top-up on your existing plan. But if you feel that the cover of existing policy may not be sufficient then do check out one of the Corona policies.

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What is a Health Insurance?

Wed, 16 Sep 2020 10:15:02 +0000

By Dheeraj Agrawal Communication Professional

Health insurance covers your medical expenditure. It’s an agreement between a buyer and the insurance company which guarantees compensation of medical expenses in case the insured is hospitalised due to an accident or illness. There are many illness specific insurance as well in the market like a cancer cover, heart related policies and serious illness cover . You could buy a regular health insurance plan or a disease specific plan premium may differ on the nature of coverage. From hospitalisation expenses to surgery, medicines to lab tests could be a part of your insurance. You have the option of taking an individual cover or a floater plan which can cover family members as well.

Why do you need a Health Insurance?

You may have stepped out to just buy groceries or a simple walk to the nearest bus stop and meet a nasty accident or may just fall severely sick which needs hospitalisation. Health Insurance is important for tackling unforeseen, unwanted and unhappy incidents.We all know hospitalisation in our country means a hefty bill. If you are covered with health insurance your medical cost gets taken care of.

Health insurance will give you the following benefits-

Cashless treatment- Your insurance company will have a tie up with a panel of hospital networks which will facilitate cashless treatment.

Pre and Post Hospitalisation- Depending upon the plan many insurance policies cover pre and post hospitalisation expenses up to the period of 60 days.

Transportation Charge- The amount paid towards the transportation of policyholder to the hospital is covered.

No claim Bonus- If the insurer does not file a claim in the previous year he/she will get a benefit of this bonus.

Health Checkup- Many companies are now including health checkups in their policies.

Tax saver- Premium payment of health insurance gets you a tax deduction of Rs 25,000 under section 80 D of IT Act. If you buy a insurance for parents then could get a tax benefit of an additional Rs 25,000. Hence total deduction you can claim is Rs 50,000.

Know this before finalising a Health Policy

Sum Insured
Keep in mind the Sum insured should be a good amount so that it can take care of your medical emergency. Sum Insured is the amount that a policy holder gets when he/she is hospitalised. So if you have opted for a plan whose sum insured is 5 lakh so this is the maximum limit that you will be able to claim. Your premium will also depend upon the sum insured amount that you go for.

Give correct details
Don’t ever hide any medical condition of yours. Insurance agents at times ask you to not give disclosure about some medical condition so that your premium comes down. But don’t ever do that. For a few thousand you stand a chance of claim rejection at the time when you may be in need of money.

How is Premium fixed?
Insurance companies will look at various factors to determine your premium. Factors like your life history, your health record, any disease or accident. Even your family history to check hereditary problems and your lifestyle like smoking and drinking.

Companies credibility
Do check out the claim settlement ratio of a company. This tells you how efficiently the company has been processing the claim. Try finding out customer feedback and do understand the process of getting the claim.

It doesn’t matter how old or young you are you must have a health policy. If you are single then go for a basic individual health plan. In a metro city a policy with a sum insured of around Rs 5 lakh is a good option. If you stay in tier 2-3 cities then a sum insured of Rs 2-3 lakh would be good. If you are married and have children then go for a family floater plan which covers the entire family.

If you are 60 and above that means you are either retired or heading for one. In that case if you have held a corporate policy then try to port the same because as you grow older your medical expense rises and its harder to get a insurance. If you have policy from your employer then do continue the same by porting it but if you have no health policy and are not being able to buy then getting yourself included in your grown up child’s Insurance plan would be a good idea.

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