Covid-19 survivors likely to go off health insurance cover wait list

With the Covid-19 pandemic receding, some insurers are relooking at the restrictions imposed on people infected with coronavirus looking to buy an insurance cover.

A few health insurance companies have significantly reduced the “cooling-off” period or done away with it in certain segments, while others are contemplating doing the same, in an effort to make it easier for consumers to buy health insurance.

When Covid was at its peak, some insurers had introduced a “cooling-off” period -- a duration during which consumers could not apply for a health insurance policy if they had contracted Covid. It ranged from 15 days to as long as six months.

Amit Chhabra, business head-health, Policybazaar.com, said: “There has been a significant change as far as the cooling-off period imposed by health insurers is concerned and it has happened quite fast, as well. The “cooling-off” period has now been reduced to zero in certain cases. Some companies are saying even if anyone is currently Covid positive, he/she can still get a health insurance policy.”

The review of this period stems from the fact that the intensity and the severity of coronavirus have reduced lately and the incremental rate of new infections has been quite low. Also, the vaccination coverage has significantly increased and the treatment protocols are more defined now than earlier.

“Niva Bupa has said that there is no cooling-off period and Care Health has reduced it to 7 days, from 30 days. Insurance companies witnessed losses due to Covid but now underwriting standards are easing up and they are working to make processes simpler for customers. We have seen an increase in the issuance rate, too,” Chhabra said.

“For a large segment of people, we have now done away with any cooling-off period,” said Bhabtosh Mishra, director-underwriting, claims, and products, Niva Bupa Health Insurance.

Basically, there are four segments: People who are infected with Covid; people who recovered from Covid being at home; people who were admitted to hospital and recovered; and people who got admitted and subsequently recovered but had major complications. For the first two segments, Niva Bupa has reduced the cooling-off period to zero. For the third segment, the period has been reduced to 15-20 days, but for the last segment, there is still a cooling-off period of 90 days.

Naval Goel, founder & CEO, PolicyX.com, said: “Health insurance companies have understood that covid cases are not the same, and hence there have been imposed restrictions on different kinds of Covid survivors.”

According to industry experts, with this relaxation, it has become easier to buy health insurance.

Though health insurers are looking to review the cooling-off period, life insurers have not expressed any such intention, given the long-term nature of their policies and the large corpus involved. Until a few months back, life insurers were insisting on a waiting period ranging from 1 month to 3 months before a Covid-recovered individual could get a policy. Life insurers had stepped up scrutiny of policyholders’ term plans and were postponing insurance requests of Covid survivors during the second wave of the pandemic.

“Life insurance companies are being careful despite the reduced number of daily Covid cases. The life insurance application is being rejected or accepted on the basis of the past and present conditions of the applicant. A Covid-19 survivor who didn’t face any major complications can apply for life insurance after a 30-day wait,” said Goel.

Further, life insurers are compulsorily conducting medical check-ups at their own cost, wherein they are insisting on chest X-rays and other medical reports, before issuing a policy to a Covid-infected consumer. They are also asking for Covid-19 vaccine doses certification.

“Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance follows the industry-wide practice of a 3-month waiting period for Covid-affected individuals who were hospitalised due to the disease. They are required to submit hospital discharge summary, along with investigation reports, chest X-ray, reports of other medical tests as prescribed, Covid-19 negative test report, and their Covid-case history,” said Kayzad Hiramanek, chief- operations and customer experience, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation and will be dynamic in our approach depending on the prevailing Covid situation”, he further said.

“With the diminishing severity of Covid, we intend making a representation to our Reinsurers to review the current guidelines”, said Rushabh Gandhi, Deputy CEO, IndiaFirst Life Insurance.