CoVID-19 health policies : A quick introduction

2020 will be remembered in history for a very long time. Nearly 6 months have gone and yet there is no end in sight to the pandemic. At the time of writing this article, India has nearly thirty-two lakh confirmed cases of coronavirus. However, the policy will not cover any other treatment that is unrelated to the present pandemic. If you wish to get insured against other common and critical ailments, you need to opt for a comprehensive health insurance plan.The silver lining is however that the fatality rate is just at 1.8% of total cases.

India has also made impressive progress in terms of building the health infrastructure and also managing the deluge of new cases. There is a good amount of awareness today but unfortunately, the opening of businesses had to happen which led to the surge in cases. The incidence of Coronavirus continues to be on the rise and people are now getting used to this reality. Until a vaccine is found and administered, we run the risk of getting infected. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of health insurance across all ages and all strata of the population. Taking timely notice of the high cost of hospitalisation and treatment the insurance regulator IRDAI had asked insurance companies to launch exclusive health insurance policies to cover coronavirus. Subsequently, the Corona Kavach Policy and the Corona Rakshak Policy was launched by the insurance companies. In this article, we will dig deep into these policies.

Indicative premium comparison

For a 30-year-old male individual with Rs. 2.5 lakh sum insured. Since both Kavach and Rakshak are short term policies with restrictions for a specific purpose only, the pricing is affordable compared to a regular health cover which offers a comprehensive health cover. However, these policies are not to be taken as a substitute for comprehensive policies. Further, both policies require 15-day waiting period before coming into effect and have standard conditions like testing from authorised testing centres, avoiding travel to restricted countries, etc. However, the policies will not cover any other treatment that is unrelated to the present pandemic. If you wish to get insured against other common and critical ailments, you need to opt for a comprehensive health insurance plan.

Corona kavach policy

All General & standalone health insurance companies have been mandated to offer the Corona Kavach policy to customers. The policy aims at covering hospitalisation, pre-post hospitalisation, home care treatment expenses and even AYUSH treatment for patients suffering from Covid-19 infection, thus helping you to avoid heavy medical bills and get access to quality medical treatments.

Key features:

Please read the policy conditions carefully as some of the features may differ from insurer to insurer.

• Covers hospitalisation expenses associated with PPE kits, consumables oxygen, ventilators, and consultation fees
• Home care expenses covered up to 14 days
• Covers pre and post hospitalisation expenses, i.e. 15 days before and until 30 days after discharge
• Covers AYUSH treatment
• Cover ambulance expenses
• No deductibles
• Age restrictions — 18 years to 65 years for adults and for child 1 day and 25 years for child

This policy is more like a standard product where the policy wordings and features are similar across different insurers. In this policy, the insurer will pay the base coverage or the sum insured only when there is a hospitalisation of a minimum period of 24 hours. The insurer may pay hospital expenses up to the sum insured irrespective of the days of stay in the hospital.

Corona rakshak policy:

This policy shall pay 100% of the sum assured as a lump sum to the policyholder after being tested positive for coronavirus. However, this policy requires hospitalisation of at least 72 continuous hours. This policy will cease to exist once the claim amount is paid by the insurer. While the policy can be issued without any medicals, people suffering from few listed diseases/conditions may be rejected and not provided with any policy. The premiums of Rakshak are only around 1–2% of the sum insured in the case of most insurers. The reason why this policy makes sense is that one does not have to worry about any exclusions or sub-limits, unlike in the Kavach policy where few things may be left out (like consumables) or will have caps.

Conclusion:

It may not be right to outrightly compare both Corona Kavach with Corona Rakshak because both the products have different purposes. While the Kavach policy (indemnity) will pay for your hospitalization expenses, Rakshak (defined benefit) is meant to cover income loss or as a stand-alone benefit plan with a fixed payout. People who already have a policy with a lower sum insured or with any room rent limits could consider the Corona Kavach policy and sub-limits could result in proportionate deductions and Kavach offers a better deal. The Corona Kavach policy is also more affordable and more suited to people who do not expect to be hospitalised longer. Though there is a family floater option available, we believe you would be better off by buying individual policies since this is a highly infectious disease and multiple members of a family may be infected at the same time.

In case you already have a health insurance policy, you should purchase the Rakshak policy as a good supplementary cover and even if you do not have any existing health cover. Please note that claims will not be made on two indemnity based policies like your existing health insurance policy and Corona Kavach policy simultaneously. However, the claim benefit based Rakshak is payable in addition to an existing indemnity based policy.

Lastly, note that any existing health insurance policy already covers the coronavirus infection. The only downside is they may not adequately reimburse all protection kits, consumables, home care treatments and such pandemic specific expenses. The corona specific policies make sense when you want to play extra safe. Given the rising incidence of the virus and spread, we would suggest you to better choose a longer-term and a higher sum assured. These policies should not, however, be considered as a substitute for a regular health insurance plan. Please get in touch with your insurance advisor immediately to secure your peace of mind.