Health Insurance: Care beyond medical coverage

Health Insurance serves the need of the hour by assuring financial backup for medical and health care needs. Having a Health Insurance policy becomes inevitable to avoid draining of your savings by hefty medical bills.

The significant purpose of a Health Insurance policy is to indemnify the incurred medical expenses. More or less, we all are aware of the basic coverage offered by any Health Insurance policies. The cover includes in-patient hospitalisation, pre- and post-hospitalisation, day care treatments and procedures, modern treatments, ambulance charges, domiciliary treatment, etc. But it does not end here. Most Health Insurance policies are crafted to extend their care beyond medical coverage, which becomes evident through the additional benefits that tag along with the insurance coverage.

Wellness Program

The modern lifestyle, changing environment, unhealthy habits, etc., have contributed to the rise of lifestyle diseases and health complications. We are expanding beyond boundaries to pursue our dreams, and in the chase, we seldom find time to care about our health and well-being. To address the need, most health insurance policies offer wellness programs to extend their care beyond medical coverage.

Wellness programs are certain activities and initiatives designed to promote and improve the quality of the life of the insured person. To list a few, Health Risk Assessment, Preventive Risk Assessment, Participation in Walkathons, Marathon and similar activities, Chronic Condition Management Program (for people diagnosed with chronic diseases like diabetes, etc.), Weight Management Program, etc., help people maintain their health on track. By enrolling in such programs, people can get training and guidance by wellness coaches and health experts. The insured's wellness records and activities are assessed, monitored and recorded systematically.

On participating and achieving the health goals, the insured gets rewarded with wellness points. It can be redeemed to avail yourself of the premium discount at the time of renewal. In Star Health Insurance, an insured person can avail up to 20% premium discount using the wellness points gained through Star Wellness Program. The wellness program aims to improve the overall health and well-being of the insured. Signing up for a wellness program ensures a healthy lifestyle, and it also pays off through premium discounts.

Annual Health check-up

Annual health check-up is a significant benefit offered by various medical insurance plans. Regular health check-ups are crucial to keep health on track. Health check-ups once a year are requisite for everyone, regardless of how healthy we may look. Annual health check-up reports are necessary to examine the medical condition and to diagnose diseases or ailments in advance.

The cost of a health check-up varies according to the test undertaken by a person. Having an Individual Health Insurance policy or Family Floater Health Insurance policy can entitle a person to avail annual health check-ups as per the policy’s terms and conditions. The insured person can avail themselves of annual health check-ups once a policy year.

Be mindful of the policy wordings because some Health Insurance policies may have a slab to avail the benefit. Not all the policies provide annual health check-ups every year. For instance, in certain policies, the benefits can be availed either for every claim-free year or for a block of every two or three claim-free years. Likewise, some policies may provide coverage only for a list of health check-up tests. Before all else, check if the benefit is available under the chosen plan because some policies might skip the same.

With Star Health and Allied Insurance Co Ltd, the care does not stop here. Most of the policies offer E-Medical Opinions or Second Medical Opinions. This benefit entitles the insured to take medical advice from the company’s expert panel, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. Star’s Telehealth Consultation aims to make quality healthcare available to every person free of cost. People can connect with Doctors from the expert panel via phone, video call or chat between 8.00 AM and 10 PM, and the service is available on all days. Do not worry about the language barriers because the Telehealth Consultation is provided in English, Hindi and other regional languages.

Health Insurance offers various benefits apart from providing medical coverage. Choosing the right plan benefits you in various ways, like access to cashless treatment in Network Hospitals, financial backup during medical emergencies, annual health check-ups to prevent and diagnose diseases, wellness programs to lead a healthy lifestyle and many more. Make your investment in the right medical insurance plan that meets all your needs.

Disclaimer: No Deccan Chronicle journalist was involved in creating this content. The group also takes no responsibility for this content.