Health Insurance Products for Fitness Freaks
The rapid technological and scientific advances in health care have resulted in increased life spans for the average Indian. Simultaneously, several conditions which were considered incurable before now can be cured with the right treatment and lifestyle changes. However, all this comes at a rather high financial cost, which the average salaried office goer cannot afford to pay. Thus, health insurance is one of the regularly budgeted items for middle-income households. The past few years however have seen insurance premiums rise disproportionate to inflation and income hikes, making the expense difficult to bear.
The difficulty becomes more unbearable if you are one of those who rarely fall sick, have never been hospitalized, regularly work out and consider themselves healthy. Yet, being risk averse, you are covered by a health insurance plan and each time you pay the premium, you find yourself swearing because of the ever-increasing premiums, and you can’t help wondering if the premium paid is nothing but money down the drain. The good news is that many health insurance service providers now provide incentives to the fit and fitness conscious on some of their health insurance products. Many insurers now track health routines, the number of calories the insured burns a day, the kind of diet, etc. through fitness apps. If the insured manages to achieve the targets set by the insurer, discounts are offered on the following year’s premiums. For the insurers, it works two ways: by offering discounts for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the insurer reduces the risk of the insured being hospitalized and submitting claims against the health insurance; simultaneously by offering discounts, the health insurance products with fitness-linked incentives find a ready market among the fitness freaks. Some insurers may offer gift vouchers which could entitle you to one or more services from a range of services such as discounts at pharmacies, discounts or membership at fitness centres and alike.
Let us have a look at some of these such health insurance products offered by different service providers:
Aditya Birla Health Insurance
It offers the Activ Health fitness linked plans which come in two versions the Activ Health Plan and the Activ Health Platinum Enhanced Plan. Three features are specially targeted at fitness freaks - the health return feature and the cumulative bonus. The health return feature challenges the insured to earn 100% return on premiums by staying healthy and fit. To be eligible for health returns one must complete the health assessment and exercise regularly. Walking 10,000 steps in a day is counted as one active day. Having a score of 13 active days every month can result in you earning as much as a 30% discount on your premium. Under the cumulative bonus feature, the insured can get a 50% increase in the sum insured during the year following a no-claim year. This bonus is capped at 100% of the sum insured (SI) or a maximum of INR 1 crore, whichever is less. The third feature is health coaching. Experts are available for nutritional counseling as well as for medical fitness-related issues. Mental wellness coaching and teleconsultation on homeopathy are also available. The platinum enhanced plan offers a free check-up every policy year.
Manipal Cigna Health Insurance
The insurer offers several health insurance products under the ProHealth Banner, such as ProHealth Protect, ProHealth Plus, ProHealth Prime etc. which allows you to earn rewards and discounts depending on your lifestyle. Cumulative bonus is also offered in the case of a claim-free year, starting at 5% and going up to a maximum of 200% of the SI. The premium amount, the coverage provided and the diseases covered vary with each plan. ProHealth Protect offers a sum insured (SI) of INR 2.5 lakhs to INR 50 lakhs. It also offers a daily hospital cash allowance. Pre-existing diseases carry a waiting period of 4 years. A health check-up is available every three years under this plan. It also covers ambulance expenses up to INR 2000/- for every event. Cashless treatment is available at a large number of network hospitals.
Thus, if you feel your lifestyle can earn you discounts on premiums or other rewards, you should look for a plan that offers you such rewards and discounts. If you are already covered by a health insurance plan, you could consider either porting or migrating to the new plan of your choice. Make sure that you shift your plan in accordance with the IRDAI guidelines to avail the benefits of porting or migration and that the shift is not considered a new plan purchase. Portability as per IRDAI norms is a right granted to policyholders to transfer their existing policy and the benefits they may have earned on the same to another insurer.
Many insurers increase the sum assured by a certain committed percentage without any corresponding increase in premium after a claim-free year. This bonus, sometimes also referred to as a NCB or no-claim bonus, may go up to 100% of the original sum assured.
The lifestyle is tracked with the help of fitness and lifestyle trackers such as FitBit, GOQii, Google Fit, etc. The number of steps taken are mapped by the app. Some health insurers also track your gym attendance through network gyms. The information from the fitness apps is then linked to apps of the health insurers, helping them track your lifestyle.
These are diseases that the insured has at the time of purchasing a health insurance plan. Usually, these are diseases such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. People with such PEDs usually have to pay a higher insurance premium because of the higher risk of hospitalisation.
Many insurers have tie-ups with several hospitals. If an insured is admitted into any of these hospitals, the insured does not need to pay any cash to the extent of the policy coverage as specified for the disease/condition for which she or he has been admitted.
Switching your medical insurance provider from one to another is known as porting. When porting your policy, most of the accrued benefits are protected and transferred to the new policy. However, in many cases, the sum insured under the new policy cannot be more than the sum insured under the old policy while opting for portability.