Policybazaar ties up with insurers to offer policies without physical checkup

Insurance aggregator Policybazaar has tied up with some insurers to provide insurance cover without a mandatory physical checkup to beat the lockdown triggered by the outbreak of coronavirus.

The customer can now get a term or health cover with a medical check on the phone, without any physical medical check-up.

HDFC Ergo Health Insurance, Religare, Max Bupa, HDFC Life Insurance, Max Life Insurance and Tata AIA are some of more than dozen companies offering their products with telemedical facility, Policybazaar Chief Business Officer (Life Insurance) Santosh Agarwal told PTI.

"Though the telemedical facility is nearly a year old, this has gained more traction during the lockdown," she said, adding enquiries have gone up significantly.

"Keeping in mind, the worries of consumers, health and term life insurance now can be bought through policybazaar without physical medical to ease out the burden on medical centres.

"Medical check-up being an important aspect while buying term and health insurance plan, Policybazaar along with insurance companies have innovated the telemedical facility," she said.

A telemedical checkup is the need of the hour given the rapid rise in transmission of COVID-19 globally and is beneficial for everyone who is planning to buy a sum assured of up to 2 crore for term plan and 1 crore for health cover, she said.

Both aggregator and insurers are working to ramp up the telemedical services for consumers with an increased volume of physicians and other health professionals lined up to consult with patients and assess their health condition over a call making the need of visiting physical centres during the COVID-19 outbreak redundant.

The telemedical process is completely regulated by the IRDAI and is reliable from the customer's point of view.

However, she said, if the customer disclosure is incorrect and it gets proven during the investigation then the insurance company holds every right to completely decline the claim.