IT Correspondent,
Mumbai, July 23:
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has allowed the general and standalone health insurers to offer Corona Kavach Policy (CKP), as a group insurance product.
This move is expected to benefit lakhs of employees of various private and public establishments who will be able to meet the COVID-19 related medical needs. This cover will be extremely useful for various categories of frontline workers as groups. In case the group consists entirely of doctors, nurses or healthcare workers, a discount of 5% will also be available as a mark of recognition of their contribution in fighting the society’s battle against Covid-19,” IRDAI said.
Citing the high number of coronavirus cases, IRDA had earlier asked all the companies to launch CKP for individuals and families. CKP is a standardised insurance cover for COVID-19 disease. The minimum sum insured under this cover will be Rs.50,000 and the maximum sum insured will be Rs.5 lakh.
“Insurers are allowed to use the standard product name for the group policy after adding the word “group”, provided all terms and conditions as applicable to the standard individual policy remain the same except premium rate and specification on operation of group policy,” the IRDA said.
The group policy can provide protection to a large number of employees engaged in manufacturing, services, SMEs, MSMEs, logistics sector, migrant workers and bring peace of mind to them, their family members and the employers. The insurers shall determine the price keeping in view the cover proposed to be offered subject to complying with the norms specified in the IRDAI (Health Insurance) Regulations, 2016 and Guidelines notified there under.
The group CKP shall be filed on Use and File basis by duly complying with the norms specified in Chapter IV of Guidelines on product filing in health insurance business, as modified from time to time.
As stipulated by IRDAI, all 30 insurers offering health insurance have started offering
Covid-specific standard health indemnity policy called “Corona Kavach” to the public with durations of 3 and a half, 6 and a half and 9 and a half months. The terms and conditions of the policy are the same across insurers except that premium rates are left to be fixed by the insurers.
Now, IRDAI has allowed the insurers to offer standard group policies under the same name “Corona Kavach” provided that all the terms and conditions of the standard policy are retained except for the premium which is to be fixed by the insurers. IRDA has also directed all insurers to engage with their policyholders to disseminate information on precautions to be taken by them to protect themselves from infection.
IRDA has also clarified that the policyholders are entitled to cashless facility at all such network providers (hospitals) with whom the Insurance company/TPA has entered into an agreement in accordance to the norms of Service Level Agreement (SLA). In the event of denial of cashless facility at any such enlisted network providers (hospitals) the aggrieved policyholders can send a complaint to the concerned insurance company and the details and email ids of Grievance redressal officers of insurance companies can be accessed from the website of the insurers.
