Places where Ineeddoctor’s CAP beats Health Insurance

Your search for “What is Health Insurance?” in Google will return you the definition as “Health insurance is a type of insurance coverage that covers the cost of an insured individual's medical and surgical expenses. Depending on the type of health insurance coverage, either the insured pays costs out-of-pocket and is then reimbursed, or the insurer makes payments directly to the provider.”

Before we move further, let’s take a look at an interesting fact:

In 2011, 3.9% of India's GDP was spent in the health sector. According to the WHO, this is the lowest among the BRICS economies. Out of this 3.9%, health insurance accounts for 5-10% of expenditure, employers account for around 9% while personal expenditure amounts to an astounding 82%.

Wow! That is some fact. There is no doubt that Medical insurance is one of the best ways to keep you and your family in the pink of health and I strongly recommend to have yourself enrolled for such health insurance. However, following the fact mentioned above, we know that Health insurance in India is still for the privileged few. Then there is also a marginal difference in trends of Insured individuals among Tier1 cities and others. In Tier1 cities, the percentage of Insured people is higher which is mostly due to group health insurances (covered by employers).

So, what happens to Individuals who are not insured and they fall seriously ill, or if they need surgeries or long term treatments? They actually need to pay the full (expensive) hospital bills from their pockets. Since there is a waiting period in most of the Health covers, they can’t signup for insurance after the diagnosis as well. Ineeddoctor’s Community Association Program (or just CAP) comes to the rescue.

What it does & how it works?

Ineeddoctor.in is a Health Care startup that provides high discounts to individuals at the best hospitals in the city in almost all the things including Consultation, Labs, Diagnostics, Surgeries, Hospital Admissions and Treatments. Any Individual can enroll him(/her)self & their entire family for CAP through the website or by simply calling at 9111-31-9111. The membership is entirely free and once enrolled; the individual would receive a text message with their CAP ID. The next time, he/she needs to see a Doctor or get treatment; they would just have to book the appointment through Ineeddoctor (by call or online) and go to Hospital & get discounts (ranging from 10% to 25% in different services) at the time of billing. Simple isn’t it?

So, how is it better than Health Insurance?

No. The question in itself is wrong. CAP is not better than Insurance, but of course it helps where an insurance can’t. Here are a few cases where it does:

1. Day-care & Less than 24 Hour Hospitalization – Most health insurance do not cover less than 24 hour admission under their policy. This is where Ineeddoctor’s CAP may help, just no question asked.
2. Consultation & Investigations - Though visits to a doctor and the associated Investigations entail sizeable costs, these are not reimbursed by health policies. But yes, CAP covers it too.
3. Between the lines - On reading between the lines of a health cover, one can know that there are numbers of diseases/illness (mostly serious ones) that are not covered under insurance. This is hardly known to the Insured until he/she faces the problem. Ineeddoctor again doesn’t restrict its users.
4. Waiting Period – Most health covers have waiting periods during which the Insured cannot claim any expenses. Why would Ineeddoctor even care for a waiting period? A patient is patient enough to get benefits. Ineeddoctor doesn’t have to discriminate. You can get discounts from day1.
5. Smaller Cities, towns & rural – As we know, the number of Insured Individuals in these places is comparatively less, but everyone needs treatment and that too in the best hospitals in bigger cities. Ineeddoctor’s CAP can help them take an appointment from their home town and visit the hospital as per availability.
6. Pre-Existing Diseases - One of the realities of health insurance companies is that the guy who is supposed to approve your claims gets maximum incentives to reject or to minimize your claims. So his first act will be to reject the claim reasoning that it is a pre-existing condition. All pre-existing diseases have to be declared upfront at the time of buying the policy. In case identified, the claim is rejected. Ineeddoctor just doesn’t need to know. You better disclose it to Doctors; you would still be getting the discounts from Ineeddoctor.

To know more about how to register with Ineeddoctor, read this.

All we wish from Ineeddoctor is for you to Stay Healthy! Stay Fit!