In true sense, health is the biggest wealth. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, you cannot enjoy the luxuries that money can buy if your health is not in good shape. Despite this, in today’s fast paced and busy world of money making, our health has taken a backseat. To get out of this new normal, health insurance providers in India offer wellness benefits. Read on to know more.

Why does health insurance provide health benefits?

Many health insurance providers today offer wellness benefits as part of their health plans and encourage policyholders who lead a healthy lifestyle. They actually reward people for prioritizing their health and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. As a result, they encourage policyholders to watch what they eat, when they sleep and how fit they are.

In fact, the latest guidelines from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) have also directed insurance companies to provide preventive health and wellness benefits under health insurance plans to promote fitness and healthy living. The regulatory body has permitted insurers to offer these wellness benefits as an in-built cover as well as as an optional/add-on cover.

How do wellness benefits work in health insurance?

Generally, preventive health and wellness benefits are available under health insurance plans in the form of wellness points or reward points. The insurance company rewards the policyholder with points for staying fit, adopting healthy habits and leading a healthy lifestyle.

Policyholders can redeem these points to get discounts on renewal premium, pharmacy bills, consultation fees, etc. They can also be redeemed for availing services offered by network hospitals and empaneled service providers.

Insurance companies clearly specify various good health markers in the policy document for the reference of the policyholder. Once the policy term begins, they use digital tools and mobile apps to track these good health indicators and monitor the progress of the insured.

Wellness Points are rewarded at periodic intervals or at least once a year based on the policyholder’s progress, such as achieving pre-specified milestones. For example, some insurers reward wellness points if the insured completes a certain number of steps per day.

general welfare benefits under health insurance

Check out some of the most common wellness benefits offered by health insurance providers in India:

1. Preventive Health Checkup

Many health insurance providers offer preventive health checkups as part of their wellness benefits. Policyholders get their preventive health check-ups done regularly so that they can monitor their health and detect any health condition or disease at an early stage.

Policyholders can get these check-ups done from any of their network service providers, which are available free of cost or at a discounted price.

2. Discount on health services

Health and wellness points can be used to earn discounts on various healthcare expenses, such as OPD consultation or treatment, diagnostic tests, medicines etc. These discounts can be availed at the network hospital or service provider of the insurance company. Apart from this, they also provide redeemable vouchers which can be used to buy health supplements.

3. Personal Wellness Coach

Most health insurance plans provide a personal wellness coach to policyholders as part of their wellness benefits. The coach acts like a personal mentor who helps policyholders adopt a healthy lifestyle and suggests a personalized curriculum to achieve various health goals. For example, the coach can help the policyholder follow a customized diet plan or exercise routine and suggest ways to maintain a good BMI and quit bad habits like smoking.

4. Access to Health Maintenance Services

Policyholders can also earn wellness points to earn discounts on health maintenance services. They can redeem these points to avail discounted membership of various wellness centres, such as gyms, sports clubs, yoga centres, fitness centres, etc.

5. Waiver on renewal premium

Health and wellness points can be used to reduce the renewal premium of a health insurance policy. If wellness benefit is available as an add-on cover, these points can be used to earn a discount on its renewal amount. While some plans allow policyholders to reduce their premiums up to a certain limit, others enable them to save up to 100% on the premium amount if they earn a certain number of points.

6. Second Medical Opinion

Some health insurance plans also provide second medical opinions to policyholders as part of the health and wellness benefits. It enables policyholders to seek a second opinion from a qualified medical professional for any critical illness or critical medical condition. The best part is that the policyholder does not have to pay the consultation fee as the same is taken care of by the insurance company.