Diabetes Insurance Plans in India

It is an irony that, though India is classified as “the diabetes capital of the world”, only a handful of insurers have come forward to specifically address the insurance needs of diabetics. Though insurance companies are quite interested in providing term insurance to diabetics, when it comes to health insurance, not many players out there are willing to provide diabetics with comprehensive coverage for the disease and its complications

The reason is quite obvious, even after taking into account the dreads of diabetes and its complications; there is a high probability that the insured will outlive the policy term. Therefore, taking into account the costs diabetics incur for their treatment and the medications required, insurers are evasive about providing these patients with comprehensive coverage that tackle such costs.

Health Insurer's Offering Plan For Diabetics in India

Diabetes features a number of easy to identify symptoms that include excessive thirst, frequent urination, fatigue, blurry vision and sudden weight loss. In the long term, the body takes longer to heal a wound and becomes more vulnerable to eye, nervous system and kidney damage. Diabetics find it difficult to find an affordable health insurance plan to cover diabetes-related medical costs. Most health insurance plans extend their exclusion to not only diabetes but also to complications arising from it.

Currently, available health covers that include diabetes and related complications do not provide it before a 4-year waiting period, post-diagnosis. Certain policies that do provide diabetes coverage earlier than 4 years have very high premiums. In the case of most health plans, diabetes and hypertension always feature as an exclusion that is not included after 1, 2 or even 4 years.

So what does a diabetic is such a situation? A slow and steady approach to get covered is to buy a health plan and pull through the waiting period. One should look out for plans that offer coverage for diabetes and its complications after a shorter-than-usual waiting period. Another way is to get covered by a group health insurance, provided by your employer. Such a plan covers you against pre-existing conditions including diabetes but it is active only as long as you are an employee with the organization.

Options are limited for patients who are in search of diabetes-related insurance coverage. The following plans, Diabetes Safe from Star Health and Varishtha Mediclaim from National Insurance, were among the first of to be launched in India.

Best Health Insurance Plans for Diabetic Patients in India:

	Star Health Diabetes Safe	National Parivar Mediclaim Plus
Eligibility	Any person who is diagnosed with Diabetes Mellitus Type II	Any person aged between 60 and 80 years
Entry-Exit Age	18-65 years (Renewals can be made up to 70 years)	60-80 years (Renewed up to the age of 90 years)
Sum Assured	Rs. 3 Lakh to Rs. 10 Lakh	Rs. 6 Lakh to Rs. 50 Lakh
Premium starts from	Rs. 6,825	NA
Coverage	Eyes: Diabetic Retinopathy Kidneys: Diabetic Nephropathy Feet: Diabetic foot ulcer	Diabetes even if pre-existing is covered right from the inception of the policy (at a 10% additional premium). It is designed for senior citizens only.

Newer players in this rarefied market include ICICI Prudential and Apollo Munich Health. ICICI Prudential currently offers a five-year term plan named Diabetes Care for those diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes and Pre-Diabetics (IFG/IGT). Apollo Munich offers its Energy Health Insurance Plan with Gold and Silver variants.

	ICICI Prudential Diabetes Care	Apollo Munich Energy Health Insurance Plan Gold: Includes wellness test cost. Silver excludes the cost
Eligibility	Type 2 Diabetics or Pre-Diabetics	Type 2 Diabetics
Entry-Exit Age	25-60 years (Fixed policy term of 5 years )	18-65 years (Policy term of 1 year no age limit on renewability)
Base Sum Assured	Options of 3 Lakh, 5 Lakh and 10 Lakh	Ranges from 2 Lakh to 10 Lakh
Premium starts from	Year 1: Rs. 12754. Year 2 (with deduction) Rs. 10,841.	Rs 13,853 for Silver Plan and Rs 18,559 for Gold Plan (For Sum Insured of Rs 5 Lakh)
Coverage	Coronary Artery Bypass Graft, Cancer, End Stage Renal Failure, Major organ transplant (as the recipient)	Coverage for all hospitalization resulting from Diabetes and Hypertension (no sub-limits for inpatient pre and post-hospital coverage )

Disclaimer: The ranking listed above is in no particular order.