Day Care Treatment
Now, let us understand 'Day Care Treatment' with the help of an example:
Vineet Chandihok’s mother was advised of a cataract operation by the ophthalmologist. However, the doctor also suggested that the treatment would be minor and, hence, Vineet’s mother would be discharged a few hours after the surgery. Though Vineet did have a health insurance plan in place, he was not sure if the plan covered expenses on daycare procedures.
Vineet decided to talk to the insurance company and seek necessary advice. He was advised that his plan includes scope for claim settlement of the treatment costs as the surgery falls under the category of daycare procedures. Vineet, though initially unaware of the concept of daycare procedures and its inclusions in most health insurance plans, feels greatly relieved.
The pervasiveness of various disorders and increasing medical costs have changed the structure and scope of health insurance policies in India. Today, a majority of the health insurance plans in India pay for daycare procedures as an additional benefit other than promising the usual cashless mediclaim and reimbursement of claims on treatment expenses.
Understanding Daycare Treatments
Simply said, Daycare treatments are those treatment procedures carried out under the supervision of a local or general anaesthetist in a hospital or day care treatment center. These treatments do not last more than 24 hours and are included under the scope of many health plans sold in India. Some of the health insurance policies that pay for daycare procedures too are:
- Apollo Munich’s Easy Health
- Star Health’s Family Health Optima
- Max Bupa’s Heartbeat Plan
- New India’s Family Floater Mediclaim Policy
- National Parivar Mediclaim Plus
How to file Daycare claims in health insurance?
The daycare coverage is an in-built feature in many health insurance plans, thus, implying that the process of filing daycare claims is the same as that of seeking claims on treatment expenses under a regular health cover. Since most daycare procedures are treatments planned in advance, policyholders can avail the benefit of cashless claims provided that the insurer is intimated in advance about the same.
However, some insurers ask their customers to submit the documents necessary for making the claims and reimburse the treatment expenses accordingly.
