Dengue also called as bone breaking fever, has become an epidemic disease in India and every year over thousands of people succumb to dengue. It is spread through the bite of mosquito and is more prevalent during monsoon and runs uptill November. The symptoms are so severe that there is no alternative to hospitalization. There were 1, 00,000+ reported cases of dengue in the year 2015, and the number is expected to rise in 2016.

Those who successfully get treated for dengue actually have to shell out no less than Rs. 50,000 from his/her pocket on hospitalization. The overall treatment cost mainly includes hospitalization, medical tests, medicines etc. Medical tests are not covered by insurer offering dengue cover.

Most commonly asked question by people today is – whether any specialized health insurance for dengue is available in India to avoid financial impact on one’s pocket. The answer is YES.

There are three ways you can get dengue cover in India:

1. Standard health insurance: When you already have insurance policy and the insured person or family members covered in the family are diagnosed with dengue and hospitalized, then your insurer will cover the treatment cost. But this policy only covers medical expenses incurred during inpatient treatment and not the outpatient treatment cost. So insured person will lose out on no claim bonus when you claim for dengue.
2. Standalone medical insurance for dengue: For those who do not have any health insurance plan, buying a specialized health plan for dengue is highly recommended. And especially for individuals staying in areas where the disease is widely spread, it is worth buying insurance plan for dengue. Ofcourse, it is must even for people with standard indemnity policy. The benefits of this plan is mentioned below.
3. Group cover: If you have insurance from your employer then you can make use of it. This way you can continue to get no claim bonus on standalone health plan.

Benefits or features of specialized medical insurance for dengue:

• In-patient and out-patient treatment costs are covered
• 100% sum insured is paid provided the claim is legit and meets terms and conditions of the insurer.
• No pre-medical tests are required
• Premium is fixed for all ages
• Waiting period is minimum but varies with each company
• Pre and post hospitalization costs are covered
• There is no sub-limit and co-insurance (i.e. co-pay clause)

Exclusions:

• Unlike standard policy requiring medical tests for specialized cases, specialized policy for dengue does not mandate medical tests. And they can be bought online or offline from various insurance companies as mentioned below:
• You should not be suffering from dengue

Which companies in India offer specialized health insurance plans for dengue?

Listed in the below table is the list of insurers offering specialized health insurance policy, name of the product, along with the premium and insured amount. Standard health insurance policies will also cover against dengue.

Claim process:

Is very simple & straight forward compared to claims made for others. You need to submit following common documents apart from the ones specifically asked by the insurer:

• Proof of dengue
• Hospitalization proof
• Hospital bills
• Outpatient bills, if covered under the policy

Note: Before buying a policy, please check with the insurer on above mentioned benefits and/or additional terms & conditions. This general rule applies to any type of policy you buy.

What to do if you plan to buy a regular health insurance policy after hospitalization?

It’s always recommended to have a medical cover. If you were hospitalized for dengue/any other treatment and later on decide to buy health policy, then you should inform insurer about your hospitalization. Informing is recommended so that medical underwriter will undergo details about the treatment and accordingly your premium would be priced. This will also help in avoiding a situation where a future claim would be withheld by an insurer on count of not disclosing facts about pre-existing disease or hospitalization due to dengue or any other medical problem. Hiding any fact will result in claim getting rejected. And this rule is used by every insurer. Check out reasons for buying personal health plan and not rely on group policy.

How to treat at home, is it possible?

Dengue is a self limit and treatable at home.  But it is highly recommended to consult medical practitioner before using any self medications. Watch out this video by Baba Ramdev on treating dengue at home:

General preventive measures:

• Keep surroundings clean
• Remove water saturated in coolers, pots etc. It helps in reducing mosquito habitat
• Make use of and apply natural mosquito repellent oils such as lemon eucalyptus, lavender, neem, and cinnamon oil.
• Use mosquito net
• Plant mosquito repellent plants such as feverfew, lavender, catnip in your house. They are less space consuming.