- Add-on cover available with Care Health’s comprehensive hospitalization products such as Care, Care Advantage, Care Freedom and more
- Comes with a troika of innovative benefits: Inflation Shield, Claim Shield and No Claim Bonus Shield
Care Health Insurance (formerly Religare Health Insurance) today announced the launch of its latest, innovative product, Care Shield. The triple-innovation product takes into account rising inflation, coverage of certain medical expenses hitherto uncovered and safeguarding the No Claim Bonus benefit from lapsing in case of moderate claims of up to 25% of Sum Insured.
Highlighting the benefits of the new product, Anuj Gulati, Founding Managing Director & CEO said, “Medical costs keep rising each year due to annual inflationary pressures. The ongoing pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. Moreover, there are certain consumables and healthcare items that maybe relevant, but are typically excluded by insurance policies. The third factor for policyholders is that their No Claim Bonus benefit could lapse in case of even small claims. Care Shield is an innovative solution that protects our customers from the aforementioned concerns.”
Inflation Shield takes into account the rising treatment costs due to inflation, which impacts the ability of patients to afford medical care in future. Consequently, policyholders purchase new policies or increase their existing policy sum insured for keeping the coverage at par with the higher costs arising from inflation. Once added to a policy, Care Shield increases the sum insured at the time of renewal as per the CPI (Consumer Price Index) inflation rate for the previous policy year declared by the competent government authorities. This ensures the customer’s policy sum insured is adequate to meet future treatment expenses.
The second innovative feature is the Claim Shield. Health Insurance policies have a list of 60-plus items such as Belts, Braces, Buds, Crepe Bandages, Gloves, Leggings, Masks, Oxygen Mask, Spirometer, Thermometer, Ambulance Equipment and suchlike, which are usually consumed during treatment but generally not covered in the policy. Claim Shield also provides coverage for these items in case of hospitalisation.
The third feature is No Claim Bonus Shield – a reward given to policyholders during renewal in case No Hospitalization Claim is registered for the policy in the previous year. For instance, if a customer purchased a policy on 01 January 2019 and No Claim was registered during the policy year – 01 January 2019 to 31 December 2019, then the policy sum insured is hiked by 60% on renewal at no extra cost. This feature also ensures that any low-value claim (<25% of SI) does not lead to any erosion of the accumulated No Claim Bonus.
The health insurer, while primarily ensuring customers’ access to quality healthcare, has broadened the spectrum of overall ‘Care’ beyond hospitalization, to include preventive health check-ups, wellness, doctor consultations, diagnostics and home care. With the guiding principle of ‘Care’ being the fulcrum of all its customer-centric initiatives in the areas of product design, claims administration, technology development and customer service, the organization recently rechristened itself from Religare Health Insurance to Care Health Insurance.
