Hospital Cash insurance plan

What is the coverage under the plan?

Some of the Basic Plan Covers include:
Sickness Hospital Cash Benefit: If the Insured Person is Hospitalized during the Policy Period for Medically Necessary treatment of an Illness that occurred during the Policy Period, the insurer will pay the Daily Cash Benefit specified in the Policy Schedule for each continuous and completed period of 24 hours of Hospitalisation.

Accident Hospital Cash Benefit: If the Insured Person is Hospitalized during the Policy Period for Medically Necessary treatment due to an Injury, following an accident that occurred during the Policy Period, the insurer will pay the Daily Cash Benefit (benefit is equal / double the sickness HC benefit) amount specified in the Policy Schedule for each continuous and completed period of 24 hours of Hospitalisation.

ICU Cash Benefit: If the Insured Person is Hospitalized in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) during the Policy Period for Medically Necessary treatment of an Illness Or an Injury that occurred during the Policy Period, the insurer will pay the Daily Cash benefit (benefit ranges from 1 -3 times the Daily Cash Benefit) amount specified in the Policy Schedule for each continuous and completed period of 24 hours of Hospitalisation. Coverage under this benefit is limited to a maximum of 15 days per Insured Person per Policy Year.

Convalescence Benefit: If the Insured Person is Hospitalized during the Policy Period for Medically Necessary treatment of an Illness Or an Injury that occurred during the Policy Period and the continuation of such Hospitalisation is Medically Necessary for at least 10 consecutive days, then the insurer will pay a lump sum amount equal the Daily Cash benefit (benefit ranges from 1 to 5 times the Daily Cash Benefit amount specified in the Policy Schedule for each continuous and completed period of 24 hours of Hospitalisation. This benefit is available only once per Insured Person, per Policy Year.

A daily hospital cash plan would determine coverage based on the daily allowance you choose under the plan. The range of daily cash available is from ₹500 to ₹5,000. if the insured is admitted in the ICU, the daily cash allowance generally increases twofold or by any other factor as specified in the policy. Some plans also allow additional multiple of the cash allowance in case a surgery is undertaken by the insured.

What are the other conditions in the plan?

Like standard health insurance plans, these Hospital Cash plans also come with a waiting period clause. However, the waiting period in these plans are of shorter tenures. Another condition that the plan specifies is that the hospitalization must be for a minimum period of 24 hours to avail the allowance payable.

Thus, Day Care Procedures are not covered under the scope of this plan. There is also a maximum ceiling on the number of hospitalization days in a policy year for which the allowance is payable. This maximum limit ranges from 30, 60 , 90 or 180 days.

If one is hospitalized for a minor treatments and the bill for which is not very high, he/she can utilize your daily cash plan to pay for the hospital bills instead of filing a claim under your health plan. This would help you in preserving the No Claim Bonus of your health insurance plan which would have been lost otherwise.

Buying a hospital daily cash plan makes a lot of sense if we take the above benefits of the plan into consideration especially since it deals with much of the incidental expenses that one incurs when in hospital. However, it is strongly recommended that Hospital Cash plans be considered complimentary to your existing health insurance plan and not its substitute. Hospital cash plans only provide a daily allowance in case of hospitalization while a health plan provides a more comprehensive coverage and cannot be foregone.