The Difference Between Health Insurance and Diabetes-specific Insurance

One of the most common types of illness in India, diabetes is generally a self-managed condition. According to the International Diabetes Foundation (IDF), one in every six diabetics worldwide comes from India. The world's second-largest population of diabetic patients is in India, where an estimated 77 million people suffer from this lifestyle illness.

For diabetes patients to get high-quality healthcare to control their high blood sugar levels and either avoid or treat them, they must have adequate and inexpensive health insurance. Diabetes sufferers' hospitalisation costs are covered by their health insurance.

What is Health Insurance?

Health insurance is a sort of insurance that pays for unexpected medical costs brought on by a disease. For example, these expenditures may be associated with the price of hospitalisation, the price of medications, or the cost of medical visits.

Classifying Health Insurance

Mediclaim - The most fundamental health insurance policies are mediclaim or hospitalisation plans. When you get admitted to the hospital, they pay for your care. The reimbursement is based on actual hospital costs incurred by providing original bills. Most of these policies offer full family coverage up to a certain amount.

Plans for Critical Illness Insurance - Specific life-threatening conditions are covered under critical illness insurance plans. These illnesses might need ongoing care or possibly a lifestyle change. As opposed to hospitalisation plans, the reimbursement is based on the critical illness coverage that the consumer selects rather than on actual hospital costs. The ailment's diagnosis determines payout under these plans; the original medical costs are unnecessary.

What is Diabetes-specific Health Insurance?

Health insurance is specifically designed to cover the costs of treating and hospitalising people with diabetes. High blood sugar levels brought on by improper or insufficient insulin secretion in the body can cause other severe illnesses, such as kidney failure, vision loss, and heart attacks.

Diabetes insurance shields you from the costs associated with conditions related to diabetes. The personalised health insurance policy pays for pre- and post-hospitalization outpatient and hospitalisation costs. Additionally, you have the choice of choosing cashless or reimbursement claims.

According to the IDF estimate, India will have 9.30 crore cases of diabetes by 2030 and 12.5 crore cases by 2045. Health insurance for diabetes is a personalised plan that offers to fund full and prompt coverage for any consequences or sickness associated with the condition. However, you must invest in it.

Read more - Everything about Diabetes: Symptoms, Causes & Prevention

Diabetes Insurance and Health Insurance

Because of the enormous number of people with diabetes, health insurance companies have launched plans that exclusively cater to people with prediabetes, type 1 diabetes, or type 2 diabetes. Some organizations even provide a combined plan that covers those with both diabetes and hypertension. The energy policy by HDFC ERGO is a prime example of such a strategy.

So what makes a diabetes-specific health insurance plan different from a conventional one? The most fundamental is that most health insurance policies do not cover people with diabetes. Even if some policies do, they have a 2- to 3-year waiting time for some pre-existing conditions like diabetes. There is no waiting period for people with diabetes with diabetes-specific health insurance.

Another distinction is that diabetes insurance is more expensive than standard health insurance because diabetes is one of the high-risk disorders.

The Importance of Diabetes-specific Insurance

People with diabetes require daily medication. It might range from daily medicines, insulin injections, monthly health screenings, blood tests, lab work, and medical consultation, among other things. It significantly increases the patient's and their family's financial burden and emotional anguish. According to statistics, a diabetic person typically spends between INR 3,000 and INR 8,000 each month and INR 35,000 and INR 75,000 annually. However, the issues don't stop here.

Diabetes Increases the Risk of Serious Medical Conditions

If people with diabetes don't make an effort to maintain their health, such as through exercise and a balanced diet, they are more likely to develop critical illnesses like:

• Blindness and other eye issues
• Cardiac arrest
• Kidney failure and other kidney-related issues
• Sclerosis and other skin issues
• Ketoacidosis in diabetics
• The diabetic coma
• Damage to the nerves and other neuropathic problems
• Hypertension

This implies that people with diabetes may experience a financial emergency in the future to receive treatment for these conditions. Keep in mind that this danger grows as a person gets older. Due to the cost and danger involved, there is a pressing need for diabetes-specific insurance. Diabetes insurance has additional advantages in addition to risk reduction.

The Following are Some Typical Advantages of a Diabetes Insurance Plan

• No Waiting Period—Patients are covered as soon as they purchase a policy.
• In-patient Hospitalisation - Patients are covered by insurance for hospital procedures and medications.
• Pre-post Hospitalisation - Healthcare costs associated with diabetes are reimbursed for 30 days before and 60 days following a patient's admission to the hospital.
• Ambulance Cost - The cost of the patient's ambulance transfer to the hospital is covered.
• Organ Donor Cost - The insurance policy will cover organ procurement and transplantation procedures if the patient needs one. Plus, patients are reimbursed for necessary checkups.

Conclusion

We hope that this information is helpful. There is no contradiction that the price of diabetic treatments and medications is rising, even though the causes may differ. Therefore, purchasing diabetes insurance is strongly encouraged if you already have the disease to keep your family and you ready for any potential monetary difficulties. You could also suggest it to your diabetic family members or acquaintances.

Read more -

• What Makes Coconut Water a Boon for Diabetics?
• Best Health Insurance for Diabetics in India