Star Health and Allied Insurance Policy on October 9, 2023 introduced a surrogacy cover and oocyte donor cover in its women health insurance policy, Star Women Care Insurance Policy. This addition will bring health insurance cover to surrogate mothers and oocyte donors at no extra cost to the policyholders.
According to a press statement from the insurer, the policy will offer inpatient hospitalisation coverage under the surrogacy cover for post-partum delivery complications to the surrogate mother for up to 36 months. The oocyte donor coverage will indemnify inpatient hospitalisation expenses for complications arising from assisted reproductive treatment for a period of 12 months.
The surrogacy cover will commence from the date of initiation of the treatment or procedure. In the event of a ‘miscarriage due to accident’, the policy will pay a lump sum amount to the surrogate mother in accordance with the terms of the policy.
Features
The surrogate mother cover is valid for surrogate mothers aged between 25 years and 35 years. The same goes for the oocyte donor cover. In both these covers, the proposer has to be one of the intending couple. The sum assured is available up to Rs. 1 crore.
The policy comes with a host of features, such as no premedical tests to avail of the policy, no pre-acceptance medical screening, facility of midterm inclusions, facility to purchase policy during pregnancy, pregnancy care treatment, in-utero foetal surgeries, hospitalisation expense of newborn baby, vaccination, paediatrician/medical consultations, preventive health check-up, and more.
Other features include coverage for in-patient hospitalisation, delivery, day care treatment, road and air ambulance, organ donor expenses, and pre- and post-hospitalization expenses, Ayush treatment, rehabilitation and pain management, pregnancy care, bariatric surgery, optional cover with lump sum on diagnosis of cancer), coverage for modern treatments, and medical and tele-health consultations.
The policy also provides outpatient medical expenses from day one. It also automatically restores basic sum insured once by 100 per cent upon partial or full utilisation of the sum insured.
Newborn Cover: Under the policy, a newborn will gain health cover of up to 25 per cent of the sum insured from Day 1 and 100 per cent of sum insured from the next subsequent year onward. The policy also has a Start Mother Cover feature which covers the hospital room rent of the insured mother if the insured child is less than 12 years old and is hospitalised in the intensive care unit (ICU).
There are certain terms and conditions of the policy which includes, among others, adherence to the guidelines of the Surrogacy Act and ART Act by the couple, the surrogate mother and the treating hospital. Also, the surrogacy and oocyte donation should be carried out at recognised centres registered with the National ART and Surrogacy Registry.
Anand Roy, managing director and CEO, Star Health and Allied Insurance, said: “We are happy to announce the inclusion of surrogacy cover and oocyte donor cover in our Star Women Care Insurance Policy. The policy is meticulously crafted to cater to the unique needs of women at every stage of their lives, thus offering them reassurance and easing concerns about escalating medical expenses.”
