Major breakthrough in health insurance, private company to insure unborn child

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At least one insurance company in the country has agreed to insure unborn children against the likely congenital diseases. It’s a big relief for the expectant parents and could be a significant milestone for the health insurance sector.

The Indian Academy of Paediatric Surgeons (IAPS) has been negotiating with different insurance farms regarding this and finally a private insurer, Star Health and Allied Insurance, has agreed to insure unborn children.

According to the Ahmedabad Mirror, Dr Ravindra Ramadwar, president of IAPS, made the announcement regarding this significant development on the first day of the 47th annual conference of the IAPS, which started on October 22.

The report quoted Ramadwar as saying that long negotiations with insurance companies by the IAPS Executive Committee resulted in a breakthrough, with a private insurance company, Star Health and Allied Insurance, agreeing to assist insure the unborn child.

Ahmedabad Mirror quoted Dr Amar Shah, joint secretary of IAPS as saying that  a lot of new or expecting parents do not have the financial means to have their newborns treated for congenital problems and as a result, when the 20-week anomaly check is performed using sonography, the existence of such malformation leads to abortion.

The insurance cover system, if adopted by a multitude of companies, may help prevent these abortions, Dr Shah added.

Approval from IRDAI

It becomes a huge financial burden for many families as many insurance companies don’t cover the birth defects or surgical problems that occur within few months since birth. The insurance for unborn child could prevent abortions as many expectant parents were opting to medically terminate pregnancy on detection of even minor congenital malformation.

Though the Star Health and Allied Insurance has come forward for insurance of unborn children the expectant parents may have to wait for some time before opting for such an insurance plan. The private insurer first needs to get approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, the apex insurance regulator for the sector.

According to the Ahmedabad Mirror report, Dr Bhagwat Karad, the Minister of State for Finance and a paediatric surgeon, who participated in the IAPS conference welcomed the move and assured to help in expediting the process for all approvals from IRDAI.