Although no one likes to fall ill, people want to get health insurance to cover their medical expenses. Many companies in the country provide health insurance facilities. Whenever you take health insurance, you have to be careful about what coverage you are getting.
Many health policies cover surgery, hospitalization and other medical expenses. However, you can add coverage to the insurance policy at your convenience. You can also add OPD (Outpatient Department) coverage. Let us know why OPD coverage is essential in health insurance.
What Is OPD Coverage?
You can also add OPD coverage to health insurance. It covers pre-hospitalization treatment expenses. For example, if you get treatment in OPD for a disease like cough or migraine, then the costs of this treatment are also covered under OPD coverage. If your health insurance does not have OPD coverage, you must pay the OPD expenses yourself.
Minor diseases are treated in the outpatient department. The patient does not need to be admitted to the hospital. Apart from this, if you regularly visit a doctor for any disease or take any medicines, this is also included in OPD.
How Many Types Of OPD Coverage Are There?
You get two types of OPD coverage in health insurance.
OPD Rider
OPD rider allows you to add OPD coverage to your existing health insurance. For this, you have to pay an additional premium. In OPD rider, you must submit the bill for treating your illness.
OPD Cash Benefit
You can add OPD coverage to the policy in health insurance by paying an extra premium. In this, you can also avail the benefit of cash benefit. In this, you are given a fixed amount for any treatment.
Benefits Of OPD Coverage
Reduces Medical Expenses
Your medical expenses get reduced once health insurance includes OPD coverage. Apart from this, the policyholder can also take care of regular medical expenses.
Full Medical Care
The facility of OPD coverage in health insurance gives you the benefit of complete medical services. We all know how important health has become in today’s time. OPD coverage covers doctor consultations, medicines, etc. Minor diseases like viral fever are covered in this.
Care Coverage
We all know that prevention is better than cure. For this reason, every person should get his entire body checkup done once a year. In health insurance, you get benefits like a complete body checkup. OPD coverage also covers expenses like screening and vaccination. This way, you can benefit from whole body care in health insurance.
Tax Benefit
You get the benefit of tax benefits in many health insurance. You can avail tax deduction under 80D of the Income Tax Act 1961.
Disadvantages Of OPD Coverage
- You may have to pay a higher premium to include OPD coverage in your health insurance.
- Many diseases are not covered in OPD coverage.
- Many treatments, like cosmetic surgery, are not covered in OPD coverage.
