A Rise in Health Insurance Claims for Hepatitis During Monsoon!

The rainy season brings with it not just the pleasant smell of wet soil or the love of piping hot samosas but also a stink of multiple diseases. A hike in mosquito-borne diseases and viral infections are notably common during the rainy season. In fact, the incidence of Hepatitis increases manifold during monsoons.

The World Health Organisation issued a report called the WHO Global Hepatitis Report in the year 2017. According to the report’s estimate, the number of people suffering from chronic Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C is a whopping 32.5 crore. This viral infection eventually leads to severe diseases like liver-related ailments, cancer, and prospective death. This potentially threatening disease subsequently requires treatments, and this is when people resort to health insurance plans to help them bear the costs of prolonged treatments. This has increased the number of health insurance claims. Bhaskar Nerukar, who is the head of health insurance claims settlement at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, remarks that there is a spike in the claim during the monsoons and he advises people to not only take complete protection against the illness but also protect the family against any financial exigency which can be caused by a diagnosis of Hepatitis!

India constitutes 15% of the HBV patients, and 6 lakh of them die each year (as per data given by Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi). The claims for the illness might amount to lakhs, and so Nerukar remarks that an individual should ideally opt for a simple, comprehensive health insurance coverage of INR 5 lakhs and then opt for a top-up health insurance plan for an additional INR 10 lakhs. This would not only provide an adequate coverage for the family, but it would prove to be an economically cost-efficient solution as well.

Almost all health insurance plans cover hepatitis and its related treatments. Hepatitis claims have risen by 30% from 2016-17 to 2018-19. Individuals should, therefore, protect themselves with a comprehensive health insurance plan which comes in handy if the ailment attacks.

You can opt for health insurance policies of Apollo Munich Health Insurance, Religare Health, Star Health, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance or any other company that you find suitable.