Had Coronavirus? You Might Not Get Life And Health Insurance Right Away

ByLily A Singh

The second wave of the Coronavirus has shaken most of us deeply. Where scores of families have lost loved ones, others have grappled with the stubborn infection and high medical bills. Still others continue to live a largely disrupted life amid lockdowns and a stuttering economy.

As a recent recover of the Coronavirus, you have seen first-hand the havoc that the virus can cause. You now wish to have a good life and health insurance policy to be better prepared for the illness if it returns. But read on first.

If you recently recovered from the Coronavirus…

You might be tempted to immediately buy a life and health insurance policy if you hadn’t already done so. The costs of treating the virus are high in private hospitals, and you wish to be better prepared in case you get it again, or a family member contracts the illness. You start looking for information on the Corona Rakshak and Corona Kavach policy.

While you may certainly buy the Corona health policies for healthy family members, you cannot get one for yourself for a while.

Insurance companies in India require every applicant just recovered from Coronavirus to undergo a waiting period of up to three months, depending on the insurer’s terms and conditions.

If you have recently recovered from COVID-19, you must undergo additional round of medical checks to qualify for the health and life insurance plan you seek. This is mandatory and stipulated as an essential condition for approval.

Why the additional safeguards?

In health and life insurance parlance, a ‘waiting period’ is an amount of time during which you cannot claim part or all of the benefits ingrained in the plan. During this time, your policy is certainly active but you cannot file any claims against it. Once the waiting period elapses, you can file a claim.

  • Insurers have added/increased the waiting period of up to three months for those recently recovered from the Coronavirus. This has been done to analyse the applicant’s risk category, so that insurers are absolutely certain that the applicant is at no further risk of infection.
     
  • The insurance provider asks for a round of new tests and if you test negative for COVID-19 after three months of the waiting period are over, your chances of a relapse are deemed smaller. Thus, there are lower challenges to claims.
  • Health insurers are particularly careful about processing applications from recently recovered applicants. There have been several cases where recovered individuals have reacted badly to prescribed medication and developed several complications. Some of these can be fatal if not treated on time. However, accepting the claim for such risky policies – and there are scores of claims being filed every day – can burden the insurer and they may not be able to honour them.
  •  
  • However, the waiting period is not extended for applicants who show no signs of reinfection or medical complications, or whose severity/criticality of infection is low. It may be extended for others.
  • Some insurers have started the waiting period from the date of the non-negative COVID test. If you recovered from the infection earlier, your application is accepted faster provided you did well on all the medical tests.

What should you do now?

  • Wait for three months before you apply for a life or health insurance product for yourself. The underwriting and checks mentioned above apply to the Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak policies too.
  •  
  • But you may buy the health or life insurance policy for your family members who have not been infected, or who have shown no signs of reinfection or medical complications after three months of recovery.
  • When you wish to buy the insurance policy, contact the insurer about the kind of tests and additional documents you need to submit with the application.
  • Understand the insurer’s set of terms and conditions in full before proceeding to purchase the plans. Specifically look at the waiting period terms, any additional exclusions made in your case, if higher premiums are charged, what the inclusions are, and so on.
  • Also study the claim filing process and do explain it to the policy nominee in detail – they will need to file the claims in your absence.

Your insurer can answer all your doubts in this regard, so initiate a call back for information before you apply.