Now, a policy that covers all medical bills

Now, a policy that covers all medical bills
30 Aug, 2007, 0925 hrs IST, TNN

MUMBAI: For the first time, a general insurer has introduced a health insurance policy that covers all medical costs. These include visits to family physician, pharmacy bills, and even dental treatment.

ICICI Lombard has introduced this new health insurance scheme, which takes advantage of tax breaks on health insurance provided in the Union Budget. In February 2007, finance minister P Chidambaram announced a hike in the exemption limit on medical insurance premium to Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 for senior citizens.

ICICI Lombard has worked backward from the exemption limit to design a policy with a flat pricing structure of Rs 15,000 for non-senior citizens and Rs 20,000 for senior citizens. This is much higher than what an average policyholder pays for health insurance.

To make this cover worthwhile for policyholders, the company has decided to reimburse all kinds of medical costs, including pharmacy bills and physicians and dental treatment bills, up to an annual limit ranging between Rs 5,500 and Rs 10,000 depending on the age of the insured and the sum insured and number of individuals covered.

The result of this innovative structuring is that the policyholders would inevitably be reimbursed a significant portion of their premium every year. The sum insured under the policy, which becomes relevant when the insured has to undergo hospitalisation, can be either Rs 2 lakh or Rs 3 lakh. While the premium is same for both the sum insured, the benefits for reimbursement of regular medical expense varies.

At present most insurance companies restrict the sum insured to Rs 5 lakh and the cover is restricted to hospitalisation-related expenses. As a result very few individuals are in a position to avail the available tax breaks to the full extent.

“Our research indicates that customers want to cover other medical expenses such as OPD and dental and are also looking at taking full advantage of the increased tax limits under Section 80D.

Health Advantage Plus is an innovative product that addresses these requirements along with the basic hospitalisation cover. In addition, by covering pre-existing diseases after two years and increasing the age limit for health check-up to 56 years, we have made the product even more attractive,” said ICICI Lombard General Insurance head-marketing Kartik Jain.

ICICI Lombard, currently the second-largest health insurer in the country, has provided cover to over six million individuals. The other benefits are that pre-existing diseases are covered from the third year onwards after two consecutive renewals. Also no medical check-up is required up to the age of 55 years.

The company has tied up with third-party administrators to service claims and provide cashless hospitalisation facility at over 4,000 hospitals across the country.