Coronavirus - Does my existing Health Insurance Policy Cover it? Can I buy a Coronavirus Specific Health Insurance Plan?

India has recorded a total of 70L+ Coronavirus positive cases and the figures are increasing steadily. The rise in Coronavirus cases has flooded the health insurance providers with queries regarding their existing health insurance policies or do they need to buy a Coronavirus specific health insurance plan. Covid-19 has created a significant increase in the demand for new health insurance covers.

We have tried to answer two primary questions related to corona virus health insurance and claims

• Whether your existing health insurance plan cover’s claims related to Corona virus?
  • A standard health insurance plan provides coverage towards hospitalization, surgical, pre and post hospitalization expenses, room rent, ambulance charges, etc.
  • In case a person holding a Standard health insurance policy gets hospitalized due to corona virus for a period of more than 24 hours with a Positive Diagnosis, only then such patients health insurance policy covers them for Covid-19 claims. Also IRDA has come out with certain defined guidelines related to the Covid-19 insurance policy claims and the same are updated regularly.
• Can I buy a Coronavirus Specific Health Insurance Plan?
  • Yes, in the circular mentioned above IRDAI has also asked the insurers to provide need-based health insurance coverage, insurers are introducing products for various specific diseases, including vector-borne diseases. For the purpose of meeting health insurance requirements of various sections, insurers are advised to design products covering the costs of treatment for coronavirus.

One has to provide Pre-defined information before availing the Corona virus health specific covers

• Whether the Insured and / or Insured Members Proposed have travelled to China / Japan / Singapore / South Korea / Thailand / Malaysia / Hong Kong / Macau / Italy / Iran / Taiwan / Kuwait / Bahrain since 1st December 2019.
• Is the Insured and / or Insured Member(s) suffering from any respiratory-related symptoms like severe cough, respiratory distress, breathlessness from the last 4 weeks.
• If the answer to any of the above questions is a yes then the policy is not issued. This experimental product is launched under IRDAI’s Regulatory Sandbox Regulations 2019 for a limited period of time.
• If one has a health insurance policy one can be relaxed that if unfortunately, they require treatment against coronavirus then their medical expenses will be taken care of by the insurer. It is wise to get oneself covered with a health insurance plan, if one does not have health insurance, they can buy a plan which covers the same and that too with a limited waiting period of just 15 days.