Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India(IRDAI) has made it mandatory to cover hospitalization charges of COVID-19 to protect patients from the financial burden due to this pandemic under the standard insurance Product “Aarogya Sanjeevani”
The IRDAI has imposed a penalty of Rs 1 crore on ICICI Lombard General Insurance for selling group personal accident policies and individual personal protect policy beyond the permitted period. Tata AIG General Insurance has also been been penalised by IRDAI for the violation of certain norms related to renewal premium collection.
The ‘Arogya Sanjeevani’ policy is a first of its kind standard health insurance product. As per the guidelines issued by the IRDAI, every general and standalone health insurer should offer a standard health product, the Arogya Sanjeevani Policy, with a minimum sum insured of Rs 1 lakh, with a upper limit of Rs 5 lakh. The policy term will be for one year. The minimum entry age will be 18 years with lifelong renewability and there is no exit age.
The policy covers 22 diseases and treatments with a varying waiting period of from 24 to 48 months. It will be offered on indemnity basis, and should not be combined with critical illness covers or benefit-based covers. The premium under this product will be the same across India, and no geographic location and pricing will be allowed. The insurers will now come up with product filing to the regulator and will have to offer it from April 1, 2020.