Hospital Cash Insurance

What is Hospital Cash Insurance?

There are plenty of healthcare insurances in the market which cover the medical bills but what about the other miscellaneous expenses that a patient and his/her family have to look after during that period? These expenses can be anything starting from X-ray bills to food bills. However, if you have hospital cash insurance, you do not have to worry at all. A hospital cash policy is a type of insurance policy that provides funds for miscellaneous hospital expenses in case of hospitalisation for more than 24 hours.

It is like a daily cash allowance provided to the holder. The amount of daily cash varies according to the type of insurance plan, type of medical treatment, and a few other factors. In times of hospitalisation, this plan is very helpful for patients and their family as they do not have to worry about the side expenses.

Eligibility Criteria for Hospital Cash Insurance Policy

The eligibility criteria for hospital cash insurance policy varies from company to company, on a general basis the major points eligibility criteria are -

• The minimum and maximum age of an applicant must be 18 years and 25 years respectively for adults. The insurance plans available for children require a minimum age of 6 months.

• In the case of adults, a stable source of income is required. For children, a stable income for the parents is required.

• The applicant's medical history is checked and should match the criteria of the specific insurance plan.

Inclusions of Hospital Cash Insurance

Before buying any insurance policy, it is extremely important to know what is covered under the policy. The main inclusions of the hospital cash policy are -

• Insured Sum -

 At the time of the hospital cash insurance claim, the policyholder gets a specific sum of money as the core coverage for the hospital expenses. This cover includes inadmissible expenses like surgical equipment, visiting member charges, etc. The lump sum amount is paid to the policyholder which is fixed earlier only.

• Covers Age Groups - 

Hospital cash insurance is available for all different age groups. The minimum age required is 6 months and the maximum age limit is 65 years. In the case of a 6-month child, the insurance policyholder is the parents. 

• Daily Expenses - 

The daily hospital cash benefit policy is the biggest advantage of hospital cash insurance. Apart from the lump sum amount, the policyholder also gets a daily cash allowance to manage the daily expenses during the hospitalisation period. This is only available when the hospitalisation period exceeds 24 hours. It is a very helpful feature of the insurance policy. Note that, some insurance plans have this feature added to the core features while some might have it as an optional add-on.

Policy Plan Details & Specifications of Hospital Cash Policy

The specifications of the hospital cash policy are -

• Lump Sum Benefits

• A variety of plans are available 

1. Basic Plan

2. Enhanced Plan

• Policy Term of up to 3 years

• Individual and Floater sum insured types

• Included Day care procedures

• Daily cash benefit of up to Rs. 5,000

• Hospital cash days of up to 180 days.

Exclusions of Hospital Cash Insurance

Just as we discussed what is included in the hospital cash insurance, we should now talk about what is not included. The inclusions and exclusions are subject to variations as per the insurance plan you choose but the major exclusions of a hospital cash insurance policy are -

• Pre-Existing diseases

• Fertility issues

• Non-allopathic treatments

• Cosmetic treatments

• Self-inflicted physical injuries

Process and Documents Required to Initiate a Claim for Hospital Cash Insurance

The detailed procedure to raise a hospital cash insurance claim is mentioned below -

• In case of planned hospitalisation, the policyholder must inform the insurance company within 48 hours of hospital admission. On the other hand, in case of emergency hospitalisation, the insurance company must be informed within 24 hours of hospitalisation.

• Next, you can file a claim by either contacting the insurance company through call or SMS. For this, the policyholder or his/her representative can contact you through the customer service details provided.

• After contacting, the concerned person will have to provide the following information along with the required documents to the insurance company executive.

1. UHID number

2. Policy ID

3. Patient name

4. Name of the person claiming the policy

5. Number of the person claiming the policy

6. Relationship of the caller with policyholder

7. DOA

8. Expected hospitalisation tenure

9. Admission reason

10. Concerned doctor’s name

11. Hospital name

12. Hospital address

13. City in which the hospital is located

14. State in which the hospital is located.

Once the above-mentioned details are recorded by the insurance company executive, certain formalities need to be fulfilled to raise hospital cash benefits -

1. Filled Claim Form

2. Discharge documents

3. Hospital Bill

4. Payment records

5. Doctor’s consultation documentation.

After the submission of all the documents, the insurance company will start the fund disbursal under daily hospital cash benefits.

Customer Care Details Hospital Cash Policy

Customer care plays a very crucial role in a hospital cash policy, especially for the insurance claim procedure. These contact details are simply available on the official portal of the insurance company you brought the insurance plan from. You get the email address, contact number as well as SMS details from the website. For any more inquiries, you can simply contact the insurance executive of the nearest branch.