Ashutosh Ranka, President, Students’ Gymkhana, had presented a proposal for health insurance of IITK students earlier this year. Primarily, the proposal aims to have a policy through which the students have access to a genuine mediclaim for treatment in hospitals all over India. The senate had formed a six-member subcommittee to investigate this matter. The new policy will supersede the current one and it may increase our annual fee by Rs 350 (approx). The advantages for this extra cost were discussed in the 8th Special Meeting of the Students’ Senate.
The institute will soon release a tender inviting general insurance companies which are licensed and registered with IRDA (Insurance Regulatory Development Authority). The insurance companies are expected to have arrangements with an extensive network of reputed hospitals all across the country for treatment with cashless facility. About 63 preferred hospitals in Kanpur have been enlisted for the same.
Vox Populi contacted Amit Ranjan, a member of the subcommittee. He shared some insights into the specifics of this tender.*
The new policy shall cover every student of IITK and his/her spouse. It envisages a corporate buffer (a clause where the employer i.e. IITK takes an additional coverage and extends the coverage to employees on a case to case basis such as accidents) of Rs 40 Lakh with family floater (the maximum portion of corporate buffer a person can avail) of Rs 5 Lakh per student. In addition, his/her parents should also be covered under accidental insurance scheme to the tune of Rs. 5 lakhs. Some of the salient features of this policy include the coverage of day care procedures such as dialysis, radiotherapy, K-wire fixation etc. Under the scheme, any expenditure in the IPD/OPD of IITK Health Centre shall be eligible for settlement. In case, any student is referred to an outside specialist doctor for consultation, the expenditure incurred shall also be reimbursed. There is no age limit for the insured individual covered by the scheme. The student will have to submit a claim within 45 days of discharge from the hospital and should be settled by the insurance company within 30 days of submission. The payment will be made directly to the insured. For any delay in the process, an interest of 2% p.m. on the reimbursement amount has to be paid by Insurance Company to the student. A claim cannot be lodged for bills up to Rs.250.
The bills of hospitals already recognized for treatment by IITK in Kanpur shall be eligible for reimbursement by the insurer. In addition to these, all state hospitals, CGHS (Central Govt. Health Scheme) recognized, public undertaking, autonomous, municipal and private hospitals across India shall also be eligible for the settlement.
The tender is yet to be floated. This will be followed by sessions with the bidders for the tender after which an insurance company will be finalised. But a major step has been taken by the Students’ Gymkhana to improve the health insurance policy for the students on campus.
* The terms mentioned may be amended on further discussions in the future meetings before releasing the tender for the welfare of the student community.
Written by Rahul Agrawal
