dr rk sharma (amp)
Outpatient Department cover cuts out-of-pocket expenses
NEW DELHI: When Nirmesh Kapoor’s 12-year-old son was diagnosed with dengue last year in Delhi, just the cost of doctor consultations and medical tests was over Rs 12,000. But since the kid was not hospitalised, these costs were not covered by his insurance policy.
While one may not necessarily get critically ill or hospitalised for some life-threatening disease like Nirmesh’s son, chances are that they may go to hospitals a couple of times a year for reasons including for regular check-ups.
As these services, along with pharmacy and diagnostics charges, are generally not covered under the health insurance plans, people end up paying a significant amount despite having a healthcare plan under their portfolio.
However, there are some products in the market to mitigate these expenses — otherwise known as outpatient department (OPD) expenses — which health experts believe is a must-have. “Given today’s rising medical costs and increased vulnerability to diseases due to lifestyle habits and other external factors, OPD cover is a necessity.
At 62 per cent, out-of-pocket expenses are the highest in India compared to other countries. In such a scenario, having a health insurance that covers these expenses, apart from other value-added benefits, is definitely a boon, especially during a medical emergency,” said Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance.
Max Bupa had recently launched GoActive Health Insurance plan — a cashless/reimbursement OPD product built into the base premium plan. Through GoActive, customers can avail up to 10 cashless/reimbursable OPD consultations with 10,000 doctors (through Practo’s doctor network), with general physicians, dentists and other specialists. Beside Max Bupa, companies like Apollo Munich and ICICI Lombard provide the cashless OPD claim settlement feature in their products.
However, availing an OPD cover is not cheap, which also has resulted in making the product less popular among masses.
The premium on health insurance policies with OPD covers are 10-90 per cent higher than a regular health cover, depending on the services the product offer. Insurers also shy away from offering OPD coverage as the sector is highly unorganised, which makes it prone to frauds.
One should calculate in advance the OPD expenses he is likely to incur in a year, and based on this, go for the cover. “Many patients come to us only once a while, but there are many others, mostly aged 40 and above, whose OPD expenses are quite high. They should consider going for OPD covers,” said Dr RK Sharma, general physician.
In A Nutshell:
Benefits of OPD covers:
RECOMMEND
RELATED SEARCHES
- dr rk sharma kota
- dr rk sharma ajmer
- dr rk sharma ivf
- dr rk sharma jaipur
- dr rk sharma ent kota
- dr rk sharma kashipur
No comments:
Post a Comment