Is Vaccination Required for Making COVID-19 Claims?

The gruesome COVID-19 has caused utter destruction all over the world. This baleful virus has claimed a plethora of lives and ruptured the global economy. In India, nearly 3.5 crore people have been diagnosed with the COVID-19, and 4.62 lakh people died due to this deadly virus. The surge in illness due to coronavirus has enhanced health insurance claims and high demand for various health insurance plans. To cope with this rising demand, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) instructed health insurance companies to launch Covid-specific policies (Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak). Insurance companies like ICICI Lombard Corona Kavach, HDFC ERGO covid insurance, and many other plans are now available in the market.

Corona Kavach Policy

Corona Kavach Policy is an indemnity health insurance plan that is specifically designed to reimburse all hospital expenses related to the COVID-19. If anyone is diagnosed with the COVID-19 infection, then this policy covers pre-and-post hospitalization expenses, domiciliary treatment costs, homecare treatment costs, and AYUSH treatment. If the insured policyholder needs any comorbidity treatment due to coronavirus during his/her hospitalization, then this policy also bears the treatment costs. 

Corona Kavach Policy Features

• This policy plan takes care of basic health-related cases of COVID-19
• This policy is available both in individual and floater plan
• The policy tenure period: 3.5 months, 6.5 months, and 9.5 months
• The sum insured amount is between Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5 lakh
• Minimum entry age: 18 years and the maximum age: 65 years
• The insured policyholder needs to the premium amount once while purchasing this policy
• For room rent, this policy has no capping
• Emergency ambulance costs up to a certain limit
• This policy doesn’t cover covid vaccine cost, inoculation, and preventive treatment expenses
• This is a standard policy with common wordings for all insurers

Corona Rakshak Policy

This is a single-premium-based health insurance plan where you will get 100% of the sum insured in lump-sum if you are tested positive for the COVID-19 and need hospitalization for more than 72 hours. IRDAI introduced this insurance policy with the aim that you and your family members have adequate covid insurance coverage and can seek the best treatments without stretching your finances. This policy bears the cost of consumable items like PPE kits, gloves, masks, etc.

Some intriguing features of Corona Rakshak Policy

• The range of sum insured is Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 2.5 lakh
• This policy offers 100% of the sum insured if a government-authorized center tests a patient
• The waiting period is only 15 days for this policy
• This policy offers coverage for individuals
• This health policy doesn’t come with any deductibles
• Minimum entry age: 18 years and the maximum age: 65 years
• The policy tenure period: 3.5 months, 6.5 months, and 9.5 months
• This policy includes pre-and-post hospitalization expenses for 15 days and 30 days, respectively
• This policy offers ICU cover, ambulance cover, AYUSH treatment cover, and home treatment cover
• The policy doesn’t offer vaccine reimbursement
• Diseases that are not related to COVID-19

After launching these two covid-specific policies, IDRAI asked insurance companies not to reject claims under this pandemic scenario without a valid reason. The government has also imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of this highly infectious disease among people. As a result, the whole economy of the country went shut down. Many people have faced job losses, pay cuts, and financial difficulties during this COVID-19 pandemic. Still, people are struggling to sustain themselves in this deadly pandemic situation.

To cope with the situation, it has become imperative for the development and administration of vaccines to control the growth and spread of COVID-19 among the citizens of India. That’s why many countries, including India, have prepared and launched several vaccines.

Launched on January 16, 2021, two prominent Covid-19 vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) have been given to healthcare and frontline workers in India first. People above 60 years were in the second group who received vaccines from February 2, 2021, and people between 45 and 59 years with comorbid conditions became suitable for vaccinations from March 1, 2021. Initially, the Covid vaccine cost was Rs. 780 for Covishield and Rs. 1200 for Covaxin.

Earlier, there was a scarcity of vaccines, but now vaccines are readily available at both private and government healthcare facilities. Now, many people are getting jabbed as it is believed that vaccines offer immunity against infection. The government is also encouraging people to come forward and take vaccines to control the spread of the COVID-19.

Some fallacies among people are that their Covid-related health insurance claims may get rejected if they fail to take the vaccine and get infected. But the experts claimed that people should shun these kinds of rumors. In this health insurance vaccinations context, no such rule is imposed by IRDA. But people should get vaccinated at the earliest to curb this deadly virus.

The vaccination drive is going at a swing in the whole country. So, people should not hesitate to get the vaccines to protect themselves and their family members from this virus. Vaccination is not mandatory for health insurance claims rather; you should take it for your protection and safety.