Insurance firms roll out Covid-specific policies

Vijay C Roy

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 26

Amid Covid outbreak and abysmally low health insurance penetration in the country as well as in the northern region, insurance companies are targeting customers with coronavirus-specific policy with premium ranging from as low as Rs 150. The policy provides a lump sum payment to any insured person aged between 18 and 75 years.

Compared to coronavirus-specific policy, a health insurance policy covers all types of infections and coronavirus is also included. Apart from hospitalisation charges, most policies also cover post-hospitalisation expenses incurred during the recovery period.

The health insurance penetration in the region comprising Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh is abysmally low at around 26% with many not opting for it in the absence of awareness.

To target the uninsured individuals from deadly virus, the health insurance providers have launched a specific policy.

ICICI Lombard has rolled out a ‘Covid-19 Protection Cover’. If a policyholder tests positive for Covid at any of the government-authorised centres, the company will pay the entire sum insured in lump sum in the event of first diagnosis during the policy period, subject to an initial waiting period of 14 days.

The health cover is priced at a premium of Rs 149 and provides a sum insured of Rs 25,000. The policy provides coverage across the age group of 18 to 75 years.

Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting, Claims & Reinsurance, ICICI Lombard, said, “In the light of the coronavirus pandemic, a specially designed insurance cover is the need of the hour as the percentage of people covered under any health insurance policy is low. However, the cover excludes people with travel history to any location overseas post December 31, 2019.”

Similarly, Star Health and Allied Insurance has launched ‘Star Novel Coronavirus Insurance Policy’, a policy to cover all those who test positive for the current pandemic and require hospitalisation.

The policy will provide a lump sum payment to any insured between aged between 18 and 65 years who is declared positive by a Government- accredited test and is hospitalised for the coronavirus.

The policy is available under two sum insured options of Rs 21,000 and Rs 42,000 at premiums of Rs 459 plus GST and Rs 918 plus GST, respectively.

Indraneel Chatterjee, co-founder and Principal Officer, Renewbuy.com, said “While epidemics and pandemics can be excluded from health insurance coverage, most insurance companies have already confirmed that their plans will cover coronavirus. We, therefore, advise customers to carefully read their existing policies and call up the insurer for clarifications.”

Digit has also rolled out a fixed-benefit based health cover ‘Health Care Plus’ designed to specifically cover Covid-19. Moreover, Future Generali has also announced a specific cover for Covid under the group policy cover. Many insurers are working on coronavirus-specific plans and may come out with it in near future.