Bajaj Allianz's new insurance plan covers only surgical treatments

As surgical claims account for nearly 54% of the total claims, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance has come out with a health plan called the Surgical Protection Plan that offers cover only surgical treatments. 

Under this plan a guaranteed amount is paid to a policyholder depending on the grade of the surgical treatment, such as minor, major and supra major and daycare procedures. The plan covers almost 600 surgeries.

Tapan Singhel, MD & CEO, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said, "We realized that our existing health plan covers a wide range of medical expenses other than costs related to pure surgeries. Since cost related to surgeries form a major part of medical expenses, a common man's biggest requirement is to cover these expenses. So, we innovated and brought in a new product which covers surgeries at a very reasonable cost."

The plan grades the surgery from grade 1 to grade 5 based on the cost involved for the treatment. For example: Grade 4 includes day care procedures like bronchoscopy, dilatation, among other things. Grade 3 includes sub-major surgeries, such as, cataract, liver biopsy and Grade 1 includes heart bypass, knee replacement, kidney or liver or heart transplant, among other things.  

The plan is available for people between 18 years to 65 years of age (for proposer and spouse) and is 3 months to 35 years for dependent children. Moreover, discount is given to female policyholders under the plan. For example, premium for sum insured of Rs1. 5 lakh is Rs.1930 for a 42 year male and Rs.1689 for a 42 year female.

Experts say that medical management cases have been a sore point for the industry. By separating surgical and medical management cases they believe insurers can manage claims in a better way, which will ultimately help policyholders in the form of low premiums.