The urgency of health insurance in India is rising by the day. If you still don't have a health insurance plan, do consider buying one as soon as possible. The policy ensures that you and your family are protected against medical contingencies, something that is a rising concern in today's times.
Besides having a comprehensive health insurance plan, you also need to make sure that you are conscious about your health. Staying fit is rewarding in many ways. You lead a healthy future and stand a low chance of contracting any life-threatening disease. Additionally, as per the new guidelines of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), staying fit will be rewarded by the insurers.
This initiative was put in place to encourage people in India to maintain and improve their health. Traditionally, health insurance was focused on curative aspects. However, with this guideline in place, it gives us (the audience) an opportunity to compare the health products not only based on the premiums but also the wellness benefit it offers.
Let us understand what the IRDAI's new wellness guidelines are all about.
- The circular put in place by the IRDAI states that the insurers in India have to offer reward points to the customers (the policyholders) who meet the set wellness criteria and preventive measures.
- The insurers need to exclusively mention the procedure and criteria used for rewarding these points to the policyholders.
- The wellness features in health insurance can be an optional service or add-on cover and can be used by the policyholder only if they need it.
- Insurers need to grant similar reward points to the policyholder belonging to the same category. The authorities will not tolerate any discrimination in the reward granting process.
- If the wellness feature changes the overall health insurance premium price, the insurer needs to inform the policyholders about the same immediately.
- For family health insurance plans, the insurer needs to clearly state how the reward points will be granted and used in the future.
Now that you are well-versed with the IRDAI's wellness guidelines let us take a look at the benefits it will offer the audience.
- The reward points granted by the insurer can be utilised by the policyholders to obtain health supplements, yoga memberships, sports clubs memberships, and various other things.
- Moreover, based on the wellness regime followed by the policyholders, the insurer can offer them discounts on health insurance premiums or increase the sum insured amount at the time of renewal. But the increased sum insured amount will not be associated with the cumulative bonus offered by the insurer.
- Furthermore, as a reward, the insurers can cover the out-of-pocket expenses such as cost for oxygen cylinders, masks, OPD consultation fees, etc.
As we know, obesity is a rising concern in individuals lately. The Body Mass Index or BMI is used to measure healthy weight in men and women. You can use the BMI calculator for men to determine what category you fall under. Based on the BMI value, you can seek further health consultation from your medical expert. However, the new health insurance guidelines related to wellness features imposed by IRDAI looks promising. And it may help people in India maintain and improve their health over time.