Will health insurance policies cover the Omicron variant?

The instances of Covid-19 and its new variant Omicron have been increasing at an alarming rate across the country. Face masks, hand sanitisers, social distancing apart, getting a health insurance policy has become more crucial now.

A comprehensive health insurance policy covers hospitalisation expenses incurred for all illnesses and injuries, including Covid-19 and its variants. This policy is renewable for a lifetime, and hence, will take care of your healthcare needs both in the short and long term. There, however, might be some restrictions that come with comprehensive health insurance, such as – waiting period for pre-existing and other conditions, sub-limit or eligibility cap on rent limit, etc. You must be aware of these conditions before making the purchase.

Insurance regulator Irdai says health insurance policies that cover COVID treatment costs will also cover expenses for treating infections due to Omicron.

“All health insurance policies issued by all general and health insurance companies that cover treatment costs of COVID-19 also cover the costs of treatment towards Omicron variant of COVID-19 as per terms and conditions of policy contract,” the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) said in a release.

The regulator has issued the directive to general and health insurers in view of the growing number of cases of the Omicron variant.

The regulator has also asked insurance companies to put in place an effective coordination mechanism with all their network providers and hospitals to make available seamless cashless facilities to all policyholders in case of hospitalization and render speedy services to all policyholders.

In April 2020 also, Irdai had clarified that all the indemnity based health insurance products that cover the treatment costs of hospitalisation offered by all general and health insurance companies cover the costs of hospitalisation treatment on account of COVID-19.