Short-Term COVID Insurance Policies Can Be Renewed Till March 2022

New Delhi: The selling and renewing of short-term COVID specific health insurance policies can be done till March 2022. Introduced last year, these policies have been popular owing to their lower premiums. T

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) had earlier asked all insurance companies to develop such short-term policies in the wake of the coronavirus. The regulator had suggested the issue of ‘Corona Kavach’ policies (standard indemnity-based health policy) and Corona Rakshak policies (standard benefit-based health policy) as the cases of COVID-19 continued to rise in the country. Following this, several insurers had come out with short-term products.

These policies quickly became sought after due to their lower premiums than regular health insurance policies. Now, as the number of cases has decreased marginally, the regulator has informed that all insurers are “permitted to offer and renew” such short-term COVID specific health policies until March 31, 2022.

The move could have been made in anticipation of the third wave of COVID-19. The regulator has also extended the exemptions granted to general insurers for issuance of electronic policies as well as dispensing with physical documents and wet signatures till the end-March 2022.

What are these policies?

Launched in July 2020, Corona Kavach is an indemnity plan which covers hospitalisation and treatment expenses of an insured COVID-19 patient. The policy ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh.

Corona Rakshak is a fixed benefit plan, which avails the holder of a fixed amount in case of being diagnosed with COVID-19 and hospitalised for three days. The minimum sum insured under this policy is Rs 50,000 and can go up to a limit of Rs 2.5 lakh. Both policies have three-and-a-half months to nine-and-a-half months tenure.