Health Insurance and Organ Donation-All You Need to Know

Imagine a day when you wake up to find that you have lost one of your body organs. Terrifying, no? 

Organs play a vital role in our lives. And that is why the impact is huge and the entire body system suffers when an organ starts behaving abnormally.   

But all thanks to development in medical sciences that major organ transplantation is a way out for this which is carried out in across different parts of the world today.  

In the process, an organ is removed from the living or dead donor’s body, preserved, and then used for the recipient’s body. It can be done for organs including heart, lung, kidney, bone marrow, liver, pancreas, etc. It is possible after conducting various tests to check if both the parties are compatible for organ transplantation.  

But surgeries like these can ruin a family financially. There are high chances of complications in the process of and after surgery, for which hospitalisation is required for constant monitoring. Therefore having a comprehensive health insurance cover is a must for such cases.  

Why is it important to have health insurance plans that cover organ donor expenses?

In the process of organ transplantation, there are several expenses which are incurred on the ground level, not all of which are covered under basic health insurance plans, especially when it comes to group health insurance plans. Expenses like pharmaceuticals, expensive drugs and medicines, ambulance charges etc. are some expenses that you may need a comprehensive health insurance plan to cover for. 

Given below are some areas where you will be spending in the process of organ transplantation-

1. Organ screening-

Before the process begins, the initial step is to find the right organ. The process of finding the right organ takes a lot of consideration so that it can replace the malfunctioning one. And finding the right donor is expensive. 

2. Pre-hospitalisation expenses-

Once the right organ from the right donor is found, then the donor will have to be brought to the right medical condition with the help of drugs and pre-surgery preparation.

3. In-patient hospitalisation charges-

Hospitalisation expenses will be incurred in the process which includes room charges, doctor’s fee and other expenses. 

4.Organ transplant surgery-

The surgery where the complicated process of harvesting the organ takes place between the organ donor and the recipient. 

5. Post-hospitalisation expenses-

Even after the surgery, the recipient needs medical assistance. He/she cannot leave the hospital until he is perfect. For which constant monitoring is required under various circumstances so that the stability of the organ can be checked in order to make the patient live a better life.  

6.Correction of problems occurred during surgery-

Unfortunately, there are a lot of cases reported where the surgery was performed successfully, but the patient was identified with some new symptoms or the body didn’t approve of the organ. The rectification of this complicated process may increase the expenses incurred in the process. 

Health insurance companies have a huge number of network hospitals which offer such surgeries. Some of them offer them as package deals for a pre-decided amount which is extremely high while others segregate expenses under separate headings. In the former, it becomes difficult for the insurer to get a fair estimate of the actual cost involved in the surgery. 

Quite a few health insurance companies offer even more coverage features than the ones mentioned above. Max Bupa and Star Health offer cover for the actual expenses incurred in the surgery as well as hospitalisation expenses. However, HDFC ergo, Apollo Munich, and ICICI Lombard avoid cover for such expenses.   

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Conclusion

While selecting a health insurance policy for yourselves and your loved ones, ensure that you go for a comprehensive one that offers coverage for all the expenses listed above. Understand in detail by discussing coverage features of health insurance plans with knowledgeable customer care executives at Insurancedekho. This will save you from getting lost under the marketing strategies of various insurers who simply cover hospitalisation expenses under the ‘organ donor coverage’ policies they offer. 

As the concept of organ donation and transplantation is relatively new, it will be better if one does not expect comprehensive coverage for hospitalisation in such cases.  

Slowly health insurance companies including Religare, Max Bupa, Bharti AXA, Apollo Munich, Star Health, and HDFC Ergo are realising that the demand for health insurance plans offering organ transplantation cover is increasing gradually. 

In future, a large number of health insurance companies are expected to offer highly comprehensive health insurance plans. The customers must make sure before buying that they imply new health insurance regulations in their plans. Rest assured, such policies will do only good for the insured.