Mandatory for insurers to offer cover up to ₹10 lakh under Arogya Sanjeevani

To enhance the coverage available under the Arogya Sanjeevani product, Irdai on Thursday asked general and health insurance companies to mandatorily offer sum insured between ₹50,000 and ₹10 lakh under this standard health insurance product.

To reduce confusion and encourage more people to buy health insurance, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had last year mandated all general and health insurers to offer a standard individual health insurance product with a maximum sum insured of up to ₹5 lakh and a minimum of ₹1 lakh.

With rising covid-19 cases and healthcare costs, the regulator had allowed insurers to offer sum insured as low as ₹50,000 under this product with no upper limit. However, most insurers were not offering the Arogya Sanjeevani policy above the original maximum limit of ₹5 lakh. The latest modifications to the product’s sum insured slabs will make it compulsory for insurers to offer a sum insured of up to ₹10 lakh.

Insurers have to offer the revised sum insured under the standard product with effect from 1 May 2021 or earlier.

Insurance companies can file the tables of premium rates for revised sum assured as per the guidelines on filing of minor modifications in the approved individual insurance products. The unique identification number (UIN) allotted by the regulator will be retained after the modifications.

Arogya Sanjeevani comes with a 5% co-pay and 2% sub-limit on room rent. A 5% co-payment clause means that you will pay 5% of the claim amount and the insurer will pay the rest. The policy covers room, boarding and nursing expenses but only up to 2% of the sum insured, subject to a maximum of ₹5,000 a day.

Source: Live Mint