The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has on Tuesday allowed specific short-term health insurance policies for Covid-19.
Citing the prevailing conditions in the wake of the virus outbreak and the need to make insurance protection available to all sections of people, the insurance regulator said “health insurance policies providing specific cover to coronavirus is the need of the hour.’’
According to the guidelines, a short-term health policy provides cover for a minimum period of three months to a maximum of 11 months. “If the term of the policy is fixed for 12 months, it will not be considered as a short-term policy,’’ it said.
Optional covers that enhance the health insurance coverage are permitted to be offered for the same duration but no separate add-ons are permitted.
General insurers and health insurers are now allowed to offer both indemnity based and benefit based short term health cover. Life insurers, however, are permitted to offer only benefit based policies. They could be both individual and group products.
All insurers should file the short-term health cover products for due approval from IRDAI and launch them only after approval.
Thank you for being a loyal user of Portfolio.
Portfolio will be a paid section hereon.
Please Subscribe to get access to one of our early bird packs.
Or click on Free Trial to get 14 days free trial.
What You'll Get
-
Web + Mobile
Access exclusive content of the Hindu Businessline across desktops, tablet and mobile device.
-
Exclusive Portfolio and Investment Advice, Banking, Lifestyle and Specials
Get diverse set of perspectives from our trusted experts on Portfolio, Banking, Economy, Environment and others.
-
Ad free experience
Experience cleaner site with zero ads and faster load times.
-
Personalised dashboard
Customize your preference and get a personalized recommendation of stories based on your interest.
Published on
June 23, 2020
A letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.
Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.
In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.
We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.
But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.
I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.
A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!
Support Quality Journalism