What is Covid-19 Health Insurance Policy?

Covid Insurance or Covid-19 Health Insurance Policy is a health insurance policy. It provides you with additional coverage for coronavirus treatment. As obvious, Covid health insurance policies are new. The insurers have started providing it quite recently from 2020 since the pandemic struck.

Coverage under Covid-19 Health Insurance Policy

The coverage provided under Covid health insurance policies may differ from one policy to another based on their terms and conditions. It also depends on the insurance providers as to what covers they are willing to provide. However, some of the generic costs covered in a Covid-19 health insurance policy are:

• Cashless hospitalization services in network hospitals
• Reimbursement of hospitalization charges
• Apart from room rent of the hospitals & the medication, it may cover up other expenses as well. These costs can be of ventilators, PPE kits, masks, and gloves to a limit
• Some of the policies cover pre and post-hospitalization costs
• Certain add-on covers may be provided
• It may cover home treatment, if suggested by the doctor

Exclusions:

Few conditions are excluded under the Covid-19 health insurance coverage claim such as:

• Pre-existing diseases or illnesses are not covered in the Covid-19 insurance policy. However, generic health insurance may cover some of the health issues under its policy
• If the insured is in-home quarantine, then may be there is no coverage. Some of the Covid insurance policies do not cover the expenses incurred during quarantine
• When there is hospitalization of the policyholder without the recommendation or prescription of a qualified doctor. Then, in such cases the insurance claim may be rejected
• If there is a case where the Covid-19 insured policyholder gets admitted to unrecognized health centers. The health insurance coverage for coronavirus treatment may get rejected

Types of Covid-19 Health Insurance

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has launched two standard Covid-19 health insurance products. They are Corona Kavach Policy and Corona Rakshak Policy. Apart from this, there is a Coronavirus Group Health Insurance Policy. The policy features of each are:

1. Corona Kavach Policy

This policy covers the costs of hospitalization such as room rents/ICU charges, doctor fees, etc. It also covers home care, ambulance, medicines, and miscellaneous items like gloves, masks, or PPE kits. It also covers AYUSH treatment. The costs covered can range between Rs. 50,000 – Rs. 5,00,000. It provides the insurance amount equivalent to the expenses incurred.

2. Corona Rakshak Policy

This policy covers the costs of hospitalization, PPE kits, gloves, masks, nebulizers, oximeters, and AYUSH treatment. It covers all expenses like that of Corona Kavach Policy but provides the full amount irrespective of the costs incurred. The sum insured is Rs. 2.5 Lakh to Rs. 5 Lakh for the age group of 18-65.

3. Coronavirus Group Health Insurance Policy

You can cover your family under a group Covid-19 health insurance policy. You need to check which covid insurance is provided in the group policy out of the two – Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak.

As per the guidelines of IRDAI, all health insurance companies must provide Covid-19 health insurance covers. They can either provide it specifically or clubbed with other health insurance policies. Hence, every health insurance policy will have to include Covid-19 coverage.

Does the existing Health Insurance Policy provide Covid-19 Insurance?

The pre-existing health insurance that you bought and paid premiums for may not have the coverage for coronavirus treatments. They were active since pre-pandemic times. Although health insurance has the benefit of coverage for some costs like hospitalization charges, you cannot claim for all kinds of Covid expenses. It is better to buy an additional policy that provides Covid-19 health insurance coverage.

How to make the Covid-19 Health Insurance Claim?

There are two ways for making Covid-19 health insurance claims such as:

1. Cashless Claims

Most health insurance providers have certain hospitals where you can get treatments. Here, you can use your Covid-19 health insurance policy number or other details to get cashless treatment. The costs at network hospitals will be borne by the insurers up to the insurance amount you are covered.

2. Reimbursement Claims

This is applicable when the policyholders admit themselves to a non-network hospital. Also, if you could not submit insurance details at the time of hospitalization. You can claim Covid-19 health insurance money later through reimbursement. Herein, you will have to settle bills by paying out of your pockets and then await reimbursement from the insurers. You need to submit all hospital documents like discharge summaries and bills to the insurance providers. Once they verify and accept the claim, they will transfer the insurance money in the time of a few days.

It is better to go for cashless treatment if possible. One can avoid the hassle of securing all documents to share with insurers, awaiting verification and reimbursement. Non-cashless treatments are also more time-consuming. Moreover, it also adds a financial burden when you have to pay on your own instead of when you could go cashless. There is also the mental stress associated with the fact if the claim is disapproved of and reimbursement is rejected.

Wrapping it up:

There are three major factors to consider while buying a Covid-19 health insurance policy. First of all, the insurance amount in the policy must be adequate. Coronavirus treatments can get expensive with several complications of respiratory problems. It gets costlier if there are pre-existing health problems and other medical conditions. Secondly, it matters the type of coverage that you seek. Whether it is only for yourself or you lookout for a group or family Covid-19 health insurance policy. Last but not the least, always check out the terms and conditions as well as the waiting period. The T&Cs of a policy determine what coverages are provided. The waiting period affirms the number of days after which the policy will get active and you can make the claim if required.