Dengue Cases Soaring in Karnataka, Health Insurance Acts as a Safety Net

Over 7,000 positive cases and over 1 Lakh suspected cases of Dengue have been reported in Karnataka since January 2019. As the cases rise in number, the demand for specific insurance schemes has now gone up. Unlike regular health insurance policies, the specific health insurance plan will provide reimbursement for both outpatient and in-patient expenses of the insured individual.

Although there are three private health insurance providers that offer dengue-specific health insurance in India, response to such products has not been so warm.

When Apollo Munich started Dengue-specific health insurance for the first time in the year 2015, the company did not share the response received so far, when asked. In the year 2019, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance launched ‘M-Care’ which covers vector-borne diseases. It provides cover for Dengue, Chikungunya, zika, filariasis, kala azar, and Japanese encephalitis, which are the prevalent ones in India.

The authorities of Insuremile believe that people should go for cashless insurance to enjoy medical assistance. Covers for Dengue range from Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 2 Lakh depending on the city and even if you have a base plan with high sum insured, you must still buy cover for specific diseases as they might not be covering them. They advise going for single-digit insurance.

Some insurance companies have a notion that dengue treatment is not covered under general health insurance. However, it is found that people at different private hospitals disagreed with the claim and stated that Dengue is covered as a part of procedure routinely under health insurance schemes. They confirmed that they aren’t facing any hassle with it.