Hospital Daily Cash Plans Explained

Health insurance is getting popular due to the increasingcost of medical expenses. Hospital daily cash is one of the innovative products offered by health insurance companies.

Health insurance plans manage to take you through most medical emergencies. But, having an additional cover never hurts. There are a plethora of options when it comes to seeking medical insurance or health insurance. Your health insurance might cover you from hospital expenses, but you won’t be able to use any claim benefit for your insurance. You can add a cover like a hospital daily cash plan as an extra coverage which will help you save your claim for smaller expenses. For example, if you have to get admitted for only 24 hours to 48 hours, the hospital daily cash plan can help you.

There are various advantages of investing in a hospital daily cash plan. But before that, let us understand the plan and why you must consider having it as an additional cover to your base policy.

What ishospital daily cash plan?

A hospital daily cash plan as the name suggests help you to determine coverage based on the daily allowance you choose under the plan. The range of daily cash available varies as per your provider.

The daily cash allowance will differ in different cases. For instance, if the insured is admitted to the ICU, the daily cash allowance increases by a certain percentage that the insurer has mentioned in your cash plan. Some plans also allow extra benefits in terms of daily cash if any surgery is undertaken.

Conditions applied on hospital daily cash plans:

1. Just like any other health insurance plan, even the hospital daily cash plan comes with the waiting period clause. Though the waiting period in such policies is less, they still exist. Hence, you must check the waiting period clause in your chosen plan. The hospitalization period should be more than 24 hours for the claimant to claim the allowance.
2. If you are wondering about your daycare expenses then don’t, because they will not be covered under this plan. Another condition with hospital daily cash plan is the setlimit for the number of hospitalization days covered in a policy year. The coverage payable under hospital daily cash is for 30 to 60 days and the premiums are charged accordingly.
3. Coverage

Hospital daily cash plans provide coverage for you, your spouse, as well as your children. The hospital daily cash policies are the best when it comes to covering your daily expenses. However, one must buy this policy as an add-on to your primary health insurance or critical illness policy. It also ensures the right peace of mind without worrying.

Claim procedure

Follow the health insurance claim process to make sure that the claim settlement goes smooth:

1. Inform your insurer with immediate notice via an email or a letter. Whether it’s an illness or a claim, your insurer must know both the scenarios beforehand. If you are hospitalized for a certain illness, make sure you mention.
2. Once your insurer receives the claim request, he will send you the claim forms and a list of all the required documents to be submitted.
3. After the claimant receives the claim form, he/she should complete the form with the following mandatory details:
   1. Insured detail (Name/ Address/ Age/ Sex/ Contact no.)
   2. Hospitalization details (Date and time of admission and discharge)
   3. Details of the other hospital cash policies in use
   4. Signature of the claimant
4. The other relevant documents to submit with the claim form are:
   1. Discharge summary that mentions the diagnosis, date and time of admission and discharge, past medical and surgical history
   2. All supporting reports to prove diagnosis
   3. First consultation paper
5. Your claim requests will be checked for completeness of documentation and admissibility. The claimant will be informed in writing about any further progress with the claim. If the documentation is incomplete, the insured will be informed about it. The insured will also be informed about the claim rejection in writing.
6. In case the health insurance claim is admissible, the discharge voucher and pay order will be sent to the insured address as mentioned in the policy document.