In the wake of coronavirus spreading across the globe, Bengaluru-based insurance startup Digit Insurance has launched an insurance product that will cushion an individual against the coronavirus.
The need-based insurance cover has been built under Digit’s health insurance product Digit Health Care Plus and filed under IRDAI’s Sandbox Regulations, as per which, the product will be valid for six months.
The insurance covers ongoing treatment. If the test for coronavirus is found positive for COVID-19 from any of the authorized centres of ICMR – National Institute of Virology, Pune, Digit give 100% of the claim amount. One will not have to wait for the completion of treatment.
If a person is only advised quarantine in a government or military hospital, Digit will give 50% lumpsum of the claim amount for a consecutive period of 14 days. This is applicable even if the test for coronavirus is later negative as it covers the screening and treatment costs.
The startup, backed by cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood actor Anushka Sharma, said in a statement that the policy takes away the hassle of hospitalisation bills.
This product also requires no hard copies. For claims, the insured just needs to submit a certificate from a government medical officer to start the treatment for coronavirus or a positive virology report from ICMR - National Institute of Virology – Pune.
One can choose from multiple sum insured options starting from Rs 25,000 up to Rs 2 lakh.
This is a one-year long cover which will be exhausted after payment of 100% Sum Insured. It is applicable only for Indian residents below 75 years and has initial waiting period of 15 days.
To be eligible for this policy, the insured should not be in contact with someone with a suspected history of coronavirus till the policy ends.
The insured or their immediate family members should not have travelled to countries viz. China, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Italy, Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, Taiwan on or after December 1, 2019. They should also not be suffering from symptoms like cough with or without sputum, cold /nasal block, fever with body pain or shortness of breath for the last six weeks as that may be an indication of the disease already being contracted.
“It is unfortunate to contract an infection for which treatments are still in the trial phases. In such a time, we saw this cover to be the need of the hour. We understand that at such a devastating time, customers wouldn’t want to be stuck doing paperwork and running around to raise money to pay for the multiple screening and treatment tests. Therefore, we are offering this as a flat benefit cushion cover, for both positive & quarantined cases. While for positive cases we pay 100%, 50% of sum insured is paid for quarantined cases so that even in the smallest way possible, it compensates for the loss of income during this period,” Kamesh Goyal, Chairman, Digit Insurance, said in a statement.