Organ Transplants and Health Insurance-How Does It Work?

Choosing the right mix of features in your health insurance plan is as important as getting an ideal plan is. Some important coverage features that you must look for while investing in health insurance are-in-patient treatment cover, domiciliary treatment cover, vaccination cover, pre and post hospitalisation cover, restoration benefits, and last but not the least, organ donor cover. 

Yes, having an organ donor cover is as important for the individuals as is taking care of our body organs. 

So, if you haven’t checked yet if your health insurance covers organ donation expenses or not, then do it now.   

What is organ transplantation? 

Organ transplantation is a medical procedure where an organ is removed from one body to be placed in the body of recipient and the procedure helps the patients with damaged or missing organ. 

An organ donor cover, in health insurance, pays for medical and surgical expenses of the donor where the insured individual is the recipient. In such cases, health insurance plans cover mostly cover all the expenses up to the sum insured limit. It includes donor’s expenses too, but with restrictions. 

Organ transplants and health insurance 

Most health insurance plans cover medical and surgical procedures of the organ donor for harvesting the organ in case the recipient is the insured person. To choose an organ donor cover in health insurance plans, one can simply opt to include organ donor cover as an add-on benefit, at the time of purchase. 

There are many health insurance companies in the market that not only care for you, but also for those who offer you help and offer organ donor cover via their popular health insurance plans. Star Health Family Health Optima, HDFC Ergo Health Optima Restore (Apollo Munich is now HDFC Ergo Health), Bajaj Allianz Health Guard Family Floater, and ManipalCigna Pro Health are a few products to name. 

If you have to go through an organ transplant, then make sure to get all the details of expenses. This way you can prevent confusion later at the time of claim settlement process.  

Benefits of organ donor cover in health insurance

The policyholders can avail cover mainly for six types of medical expenses under organ donor cover. These are-

• Organ screening- To check well-being and see if blood group are matching
• Pre-hospitalisation cost-Once the donor has been finalised, he/she may have to undergo some medication before proceeding with the treatment 
• Hospitalisation expenses-This includes room rent and nursing expenses 
• Organ transplant surgery-The surgery cost and surgeon fee will be included 
• Post surgery expenses for the recipient-Complications after the surgery, if any, are are not uncommon and are covered. This may include medications, hospitalisation expenses, etc.
• Post-hospitalisation expenses for the donor-Expenses for medication and follow-ups are covered for the donor as well under most plans. 

These are some coverage features which an insurance policy must cover. But unfortunately, some health insurance companies restrict from covering all of them.   

What to look before buying one?

To get an organ donor cover before signing up for a health insurance policy, have a close look at the policy brochure. To find policy brochures, visit insurancedekho. 

What you must read in-depth or gain clarity from the customer care executives on are the coverage features which the policy does not cover. For instance, there may be a limit on the amount for which the expenses will be covered which can either be for a specific amount, let’s say Rs. 50.000 or for some part of the sum insured, let’s say 10% of it. 

There are also health insurance plans in the market that offer organ donor cover under add-on benefit and not as a part of the main cover. The policyholders, if they find other coverage of the plan suitable, can buy the add-on cover too by paying a little extra premium.  

Also Read

Health Insurance and Organ Donation-All You Need to Know

Tax Saving Deadline Extended Till 30th June 2020

Conclusion 

Some health insurance plans do offer organ donor cover as an in-built feature, but the existing policyholders can get in touch with the customer care executives at InsuranceDekho and check if they can amend your existing policy to add this benefit or not at some point during your policy term. 

You can simply call on the toll-free number 1800 1205 698 and get all the details you require to enjoy organ donation cover at a nominal premium. It will be a small cost to pay for quite a useful feature. Stay healthy and insured!