The Pandemic of COVID-19 has brought about a challenging period for the entire world. A country like India with a higher than usual population per square meter is in no way an exception to the situation. As of Feb 2022, India is reportedly witnessing close to 70,000 new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis and this is bringing the unimaginable closer to reality. Being financially prepared with an insurance policy is taking utmost precedence now.
While personal savings are a great way to save up for treatments, there exist better methods that do not put as much of a financial burden on the family while still providing better benefits – insurance. Many leading insurers in the country now offer special insurance plans targeted towards helping people better navigate the financials of the pandemic.
We’ve curated a list of must-have health insurance policies to help you get through this battle. Let’s look at the three insurance plans that are essential to better prepare for the pandemic.
Health Insurance
One of the most basic kinds of insurance you must have – including you and your entire family– is a well-covered health insurance. To get better backing from your insurance during the COVID-19 age, ensure that it provides you with the following coverages:
- Complete hospitalization expenses – Cost incurred for the room, ICU, ICCU, medication, professional medical consultations, and more
- Pre and Post Hospitalization Expenses – Home care (including but not limited to tests, diagnostics, consultation.), and care expenses after patient discharge
- Ambulance charges
- Treatment cost – including AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) or allopathy or any other domiciliary treatment
- Equipment cost – PPEs, oxygen, gloves, masks, etc.
- Whether or not you would receive daily cash expenses for utilization at the hospital
- Wide network of partner hospitals
Ensuring that these coverages are provided by your insurance package goes the extra mile to help you face the treatment ordeal.
Term Life Insurance
As unfortunate and bitter as it is, surviving after losing a family member is essential. Term life insurance helps the family survive the member who has passed on by providing a steady stream of funds after the insured’s death. This insurance helps, especially when the one at risk is the sole breadwinner of the family – especially in the case of the unpredictable Coronavirus disease.
Many insurers provide a guarantee of a good corpus; however, there are select insurers in the market that guarantee a term life sum of value as high as ten times the annual income of the insured.
When getting term life insurance, it is important to consider the lifestyle your family leads, their financial needs in the future, existing loans, and base expenses. Ensuring that your family gets enough funds to cover such expenses after your death helps them live a little better.
COVID-Specific Policies
These are microinsurance solutions that assist you with coverage catered specifically to your requirements. This is a good idea if you want to buy health insurance coverage only COVID-19 related hospitalizations on a budget, and the additional coverage will prove to be of great help if and when your base Health insurance falls short. Many insurance companies offer these policies, with the most common being the national COVID Kavach insurance, a short-term indemnity health insurance introduced in India to specifically help people get access to finances for treatment. The term of this policy ranges from 105 to 285 days, and covers the following expenses:
- Ambulance
- Pre and post hospitalization for 15 and 30 days respectively
- Basic hospitalization charges
- Allopathy and AYUSH treatment expenses
Conclusion
The insurance policy sector in India is highly reliable today, with some health insurances providing reimbursement rates as high as 95.2%. This enables us to choose from a wide range of available options to better protect our health along with our loved ones. Getting a health insurance policy, a term life insurance, and a COVID-19 specific coverage will definitely help you survive the pandemic better.
Have a burning topic or question that you’d like us to cover as part of this series? Please write to us at hello@riskcovry.com
