Health plans from Apollo Munich, ICICI Lombard, Max Bupa now come with 'returns' assurance

In an advertisement being aired on TV, an apparently healthy man desperately tries to injure himself. The reason? He wishes to make a claim before the end of the policy year. The ad seeks to highlight a commonly-known fact: Indians' fixation for 'returns'.

The reluctance to pay premiums without securing anything in return is the sole reason why insurance-cum-investment plans are popular in the market despite the availability of cheaper alternatives like term cover.

Like term insurance, health covers, too, don't find many takers, since many mistakenly believe that buying a health cover while maintaining perfect health makes little sense. What's more, the health cover premium seldom helps an individual to exhaust the Rs 15,000 deductions that can be claimed for health insurance under section 80D of the Income-Tax Act. This, again, works against such policies. This is the reason why some health insurers have been designing products to make such insurance-seekers happy.

Health 'plus'

These include unit-linked health covers as well as OPD (outpatient department) products that extend cover to treatments not requiring 24-hour hospitalisation or not included under 'daycare' procedures. Companies like ICICI Lombard, Apollo Munich and Max Bupa offer OPD covers.

Unit-linked health plans look to address another source of consternation among policyholders - 'spending' on policies that don't yield 'returns'. The OPD policies cover consultation, dental and maternity expenses, subject to limits, which constitute key exclusions in the standard indemnity-based mediclaim policies for individuals. Such plans also appeal to individuals who want to maximise tax breaks on health insurance premium.

Under the standard policies, a 30-year-old opting for a sum assured of Rs 3 lakh would have to pay an annual premium of around Rs 3,000, way below the Rs 15,000 cap eligible for tax break. "With OPD expenses going northwards steeplyand majority of health insurance policies not covering OPD expenses, such covers have become immensely useful for an individual. Comprehensiveness is the proposition of such policies. Clubbed with the benefit of saving tax, such policies have become popular amongst customers," says Sanjay Datta, head, customer service - health and motor, ICICI Lombard.

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