OPD expenses in health insurance

Hello Mr. Singh,

There is a burning need to cover OPD - especially when we hit old age (we have heard senior citizen couples spending 2-3 Lakhs a year on regular medical expenditure)

Though there is a long way to go, insurers have made an encouraging start in OPD. Most popular health insurance policies provide a free preventive medical checkup in a year. Insurers have free teleconsultations services offered to their customers too. Of course, investigation driven medical checkups, regular medication, specialist consultations are still not covered. The reason is the OPD healthcare industry in the country is still fragmented and open-ended in the country. There are hardly any national OPD brands you can name. There is an absence of hygiene level systems and controls in place to avoid spillages and frauds right now, which is key to starting any service.

However, the good news is there are 100s of health tech companies trying to solve this, creating chains, networks, technologies that will help bring the absent systems and controls in place. We should see good OPD products in place by 2025.

Till then, we recommend that a part of your retirement planning should include OPD expenses too.

Regards,

Mahavir