Treatment at make-shift COVID-19 hospitals eligible for health insurance claims: IRDAI

These guidelines are crucial because there have been complaints about some insurers not recognising hospitalisation treatment availed by COVID-19 patients at make-shift hospitals

Moneycontrol News

July 16, 2020 / 21:51 IST

Even if there is a make-shift or temporary hospital where you have availed treatment for coronavirus (COVID-19), the insurance company has to pay expenses under health policies.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said in a circular on July 16 to all general and health insurers that they must recognise claims incurred at that government-recognised temporary hospitals for novel coronavirus, or COVID-19. This is because of the rise in number of COVID-19 cases in India, said IRDAI.

These guidelines are crucial because there have been complaints about some insurers not recognising hospitalisation treatment availed by COVID-19 patients at make-shift hospitals. This is because as per standard insurance definition these temporary units are generally recognised during claims settlement.

According to data from the health ministry, India had total of 9,68,876 confirmed coronavirus cases as of 8 am on July 16. Here a total of 3,31,146 cases are active and there have been 24,915 deaths so far.

Cities like Mumbai and Delhi that have been worst hit by COVID-19 have set up make-shift hospitals to deal with the virus outbreak.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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Treatment at make-shift COVID-19 hospitals eligible for health insurance claims: IRDAI

These guidelines are crucial because there have been complaints about some insurers not recognising hospitalisation treatment availed by COVID-19 patients at make-shift hospitals

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Treatment at make-shift COVID-19 hospitals eligible for health insurance claims: IRDAI

These guidelines are crucial because there have been complaints about some insurers not recognising hospitalisation treatment availed by COVID-19 patients at make-shift hospitals

Related stories

Subscribe to Tech Newsletters

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