What Are Wellness Benefits In Health Insurance?

Wellness benefits in health insurance come in the form of wellness points that can be encashed either as concessions on premium payments or in the form of membership benefits at any empaneled organization. These wellness-oriented health insurance policies target making individuals proactive towards healthy living. 

According to recent IRDAI guidelines on wellness and preventive features, the insurers are asked to incentivize the insured who is eligible for the reward points and fits well with the wellness criteria. 

Several software and tools are available today to track a person's health. However, given the busy schedule and the stress, it sometimes becomes challenging to do that. So it is when wellness benefits come to use as this ensures optimum utilization as policyholders are encouraged to take their health seriously in return for rewards and benefits. 

Explains Rakesh Goyal, director of Probus Insurance Broker: "Health insurers include different wellness benefits under their health insurance plans to stand out from other insurers and encourage the policyholders to choose a healthy lifestyle. Such wellness benefits are added to increase the market competition and, at the same time, drive the customers' needs. The wellness benefits  under the health plan come in the form of points, also known as wellness points or reward points."

Here are some of the wellness benefits in health insurance offered by the insurers: 

Reward points to promote a healthy lifestyle: You could use these rewards to avail discounts for different medical tests and check-ups at all diagnostic centers and network hospitals. Moreover, you could redeem the points to avail of membership at a lower rate at various wellness centers like yoga institutes, gyms, etc. 

A personal wellness coach: Many insurers provide a wellness coach or mentor under the wellness program. "The coach mentors the insured person on his dietary intake, exercise routine, nutrition balance, quitting smoking habits, maintaining a good BMI index, and much more. The coach sets targets to be achieved. On achieving the targets, the insured gets redeemable points as above," says Bhaskar Nerurkar, head of the health administration team at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance. 

Second medical opinion: Certain health plans come with the benefit of providing a second medical opinion wellness benefit.

"Under this feature, in case of any chronic or severe medical concern, the insured can seek a second medical opinion. This second opinion is not chargeable for the insured. But one needs to clearly understand that no insurance company is responsible for any error arising in the medical opinion," adds Nerurkar. 

Exciting concessions on renewal: The availability of exciting concessions on wellness benefit plans encourages the insured to keep track of his healthy living. Moreover, these wellness benefits are available without paying anything extra to the insurance company. Also, there is no need to enroll yourself separately in the wellness program plan. Instead, the insured gets enrolled from the day he or his family gets insured under the family health insurance or individual. 

However, all these benefits highly depend on the choice of insurer, as it varies from one insurer to another. "It is highly suggested to read all the information and policy documents well in advance to avoid any unpleasant surprises later," adds Goyal.