Do you have a COVID-19 health plan? Check if it covers Omicron

The second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic was deadlier than the first, claiming millions of lives worldwide and infecting many more. The country was left wanting in terms of medical preparedness to meet the sudden influx of serious cases. In the absence of adequate health equipment and even enough hospital beds, many patients succumbed to the disease at home or inside ambulances.

The second wave of the virus taught most of us some sharp lessons in handling our health and finances intelligently. It does not do to take the virus for granted — it spares nobody and may turn serious in just a few hours. Taking a good health insurance plan in India is the first step towards combating its health and financial implications.

However, the Omicron variant now poses several new challenges, especially for the medical and pharmaceutical world. Do current vaccines combat it? If they don’t, will the fully vaccinated require booster shots against it? Why is it causing so much alarm that even the WHO had to designate it as a harmful strain? Let’s find out more about it, and also how your health insurance plan can protect you from it.

What is the Omicron variant?

It is a variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, popularly known as the novel Coronavirus or COVID-19. It is technically designated as B.1.1.529.

It was first detected in South Africa, but it has since spread to other continents. Cases have been detected in Europe, Australia and even India. What sets this variant apart from others preceding it, is that it has over 30 mutations on the receptor binding domain, or the pathway that the virus uses to attach to healthy blood cells in the host body. Doctors and scientists believe that fully vaccinated people may also contract the infection in a moderate to severe form despite being immunised. Overall, however, the mortality rate among the fully vaccinated may still be lower owing to Omicron, but infection rates are high.

Does your existing health policy cover the Omicron variant?

It naturally follows that for a variant that is highly infectious and that community transmission may be the simplest mode for it to go far and wide in our country, your health insurance policy must be poised to include this new variant in its coverage. If you already have an individual or family health cover, then you must check to see if offers COVID-19 coverage. If it does, then the best plans offer coverage against different strains and variants, too.

• The Omicron strain is not to be treated as a new disease or infection, but a new form of the same infectious virus. Hence, the existing health insurance guidelines extend to Omicron and any new future strains as well.
• The IRDAI stipulates that existing plans such as indemnity policies should cover hospitalisation for infectious diseases including COVID-19. It further adds that irrespective of the variant, the coverage must still be extended in full as promised.
• On the other hand, dedicated Coronavirus treatment plans such as Corona Kavach and Corona Rakshak will also cover different strains of the virus. In both cases, the base terms i.e. the occurrence of COVID-19 is the deciding factor, and not the particular strain or variant of the virus.

How to prepare for Omicron in your health plan

• Assess your current health coverage. Is it adequate to meet the expenses for COVID-19 if you and/or your family members contract it? If not, you must enhance coverage on the primary health plan when you renew it.
• If you are unsure about whether the primary health plan can meet the expenses for COVID-19 treatment adequately, you should consider investing in a super top up plan. The super top up plan offers coverage against multiple hospitalisations for the insured and their included family members, in one year of the policy. This is helpful in case there is an outbreak of the Coronavirus in the household and more than one family member requires hospitalisation for it.
• Basically, the sum assured on the plan must meet the entire gamut of demands that the virus makes, from hospitalisation to treatment, and from medication to post-treatment health conditions. Do remember that the virus is expensive to treat if it is of a severe intensity when the patient is detected with the infection.
• Getting a comprehensive health insurance policy is ideal — it covers a host of diseases including COVID-19 and its effects.
• Another option to exercise is to buy dedicated Coronavirus health insurance plans. These can even offer coverage for expenses in home quarantine and at-home treatment if the virus is of moderate to severe intensity and the patient cannot be shifted to a hospital. This option is better for those who do not wish to use their primary health insurance policy to treat Coronavirus.