Apollo Munich Launches Dengue Insurance

Dengue since the last five years, seems to have become an integral part of monsoons of India. We all know, with monsoon will come mosquitos and with mosquitos will come the epidemic of dengue, malaria and chikungunia. Each passing year, the incidence of dengue seems to be only rising, with more and more number of people being infected and getting admitted in the hospitals.

With rising dengue cases, comes another problem. Not just is your health effected, so is your pocket. Hospitalisation costs, investigation costs, even platelet costs, lead a person to be financially exhausted while being physically so.

Keeping the rising incidence of dengue in mind, Apollo Munich Health Insurance launched the ‘Dengue Care’ scheme in the presence of brand advocate and iconic cricketer Sourav Ganguly here.

‘Dengue Care’ scheme, available at Rs 1.2 per day, is an exclusive health insurance policy to cover related expenses that arise from the ailment for patients and the insurer is looking to lessen their burden – the one-time premium payable is Rs 444.

The policy, available online, at Apollo centres and with the agents, is for every age group without any pre-disease clause and covers Rs 50,000 hospitalisation and Rs 10,000 outpatient treatment i.e. medicine and clinic visit expenses. The patients, if tested positive, can go for cashless treatment at any Apollo Munich centre or can claim their expenses within seven working days of depositing their bills.

“From the statistics on various types of infections and problem faced by people, we know the pain that monsoon brings and therefore, we wanted one product which is simple to understand, easy to buy, cost effective and easy to use,” said Apollo Munich Health Insurance CEO Antony Jacob.

Since insurance hasn’t penetrated too deep in India and a huge part of the population does not have insurance of any kind, the insurer said it is looking to bridge the gap at least with respect to this disease that is widespread during the monsoon.

Talking about the policy, Antony Jacob said that this policy requires only a self-declaration and 15 day period before it gets activated. He also explained that people who are not required to be admitted in the hospital can also claim clinic visit charges, test fee and medicine expenses of up to Rs 10,000 by submitting the bills.

At the launch, Sourav Ganguly shared the personal experience of his daughter when she fell prey to dengue three years ago and said, “Her suffering was heartbreaking and I still worry about it every monsoon.” He also highlighted the importance of providing for medical expenses and appealed to the people to keep their surroundings clean.

Citing example of his daughter, Ganguly urged everyone to pledge platelets to help people suffering from dengue.