Covid Health Insurance – Nowadays Corona Virus outbreak is in the limelight. All newspapers and news channels are giving exclusive coverage to COVID-19. As of now, there is no sure shot medicine for coronavirus. Covid Vaccine is under clinical trial but not sure when it will be available in the market. People are eagerly waiting for Covid Vaccine or drug but as of now, it is not sure that when Covid pandemic will end.
Social distancing, maintaining hygiene, and wearing a mask is the only option to stay protected from coronavirus. As an additional measure, you can opt for COVID Health Insurance Policy.
There are many COVID health insurance policies available in the market. IRDAI has also requested insurance providers to cover coronavirus infection. Corona Rakshak and Corona Kavach are the two most popular health insurance policies that provide exclusive coverage to COVID.
If you are planning to buy a COVID health insurance policy this post is for you. In this post, I will share important things that you must consider before buying a COVID health policy.
Why one should buy COVID Health Insurance Policy?
I am already covered by health insurance policy – Why I should buy Covid Health Insurance Policy? This question might be bugging you. Let’s try to get the answer to this question first.
- Your current health insurance policy is not adequate to afford COVID expenses. The large portion of corona treatment goes into hospitalization. Due to the lack of hospitals and large numbers of cases, it may be difficult to find a hospital and if it is found charges will be very high.
- You need to pay additional charges for dedicated nursing, resident medical officer & hygiene. Under standard health insurance, this portion will not be covered as these charges are considered as part of room charges.
- The rent you will pay for the room will be very high and it will not fit into your room rent limit of health insurance.
- You need to spend money on masks, sanitizer, and PPE Kit. The daily cost would be roughly Rs.4000. Other consumables like gloves, gauge, and bandages are required to purchase. These expenses would not be covered under your standard health insurance policy.
- The treatment period of coronavirus infection is minimum 15 days. Due to the longer duration of hospitalization, there may be a shortfall of the insurance coverage amount.
- As per the rough estimate, the cost of COVID treatment in a private hospital or super specialty hospital in tire 2 city is 3-9 Lakh. In the metro city, the cost is in the range of 5-12.5 Lakh.
I hope the above reasons are enough for you to answer the question – Why I should buy COVID Health Insurance Policy?
Also Read – Corona Kavach & Corona Rakshak – Health Insurance Policies
10 Things to Consider Before Buying Covid Health Insurance Policy
#1 Sum Assured & Premium
The first thing to consider while buying covid health insurance policy is the sum assured and premium amount. You should buy coverage of at least 5 Lakh. If you are living in a metro city your coverage amount should be 10 Lakh. You should compare various plans available in the market that covers Corona. It is a good idea to go for Corona Kavach or Corona Rakshak Policy.
#2 Policy Term
Check for policy terms before buying a policy. Corona Rakshak Policy is available for 105 Days (3.5 Months), 195 Days (6.5 Months) & 285 Days (9.5 Months). It is advisable to go for the longer policy term.
#3 Cashless Facility
It is advisable to go for a policy that offers a cashless facility. A cashless facility is generally offered only at the network hospitals of the insurer. You should carefully evaluate the list of network hospitals. IRDAI has recommended that the hospital should provide a cashless facility for COVID-19 cases. If the hospital rejects cashless claims, you can file complain against hospital and insurer.
#4 Claim Settlement Process
The claim settlement process should be fast and convenient. There is no point in purchasing the insurance policy where the claim settlement process is cumbersome and time-consuming. You may go through detail before buying a policy.
#5 Coverage of Additional Expenses
You should look at the additional expense covered by health insurance policy. The policy should include cost of drug, PPE kit, mask, gloves and other related expense. It is also advisable to go for policy that covers home care treatment. Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak provide these types of coverage.
#6 Additional Services
It is good idea to check additional services offered by health insurance policy. Some add-on services that are offered with COVID-19 health insurance policy are health assistance, tele-medicine, teleconsultation, chat/virtual consultation etc.
#7 Waiting Period
You should check for waiting period offered by health insurance policy. COVID specific health insurance policy comes with 15 days of waiting period. You should opt for health insurance with minimum wait period. The waiting period differs from insurer to insurer and is calculated from the date of the issuance of the policy.
#8 Family Floater or Individual plan
Corona policy is available as individual plan or family floater. Corona Kavach is family floater and Corona Rakshak is Individual plan. It is advisable to go for Individual plan as it gives one-time settlement. Individual policy provides full amount coverage to the individual.
#9 Pre and Post Hospitalization
The policy should provide pre and post hospitalization benefit. The minimum pre-hospitalization period would be 15 days and post-hospitalization expense should be up to 30 days from the date of discharge.
#10 Compare Policy before buying
You should compare various policies before buying. The comparison should be done with key features such as minimum, maximum sum assured, eligibility, claim process, policy tenure, expenses to be covered, premium amount, pre and post hospitalization expense, additional services provided etc.
