Whether we talk about natural disasters, pandemics, or economic diminutions, access to sufficient and efficient healthcare facilities becomes highly critical in a crisis. Whatever the situation, one fact that remains undeniable is that the role of health Insurance during crisis remains pivotal as it ensures that all the necessary resources required to afford different medical services during these challenging periods are readily available to individuals and families and provides financial protections.
According to IRDAI reports, the health insurance sector witnessed a double-digit jump in September 2020 during the COVID-19 crisis, making it the largest non-life insurance business. In 2020, the health insurance sector occupied an insurance market share of 29.7 percent, witnessing a growth of 15.8 percent from the previous ₹24,864.41 crores in 2019. Further, as per a survey by Statista, health insurance is the most common type of insurance.
This blog explores the various aspects of health insurance's importance during the crisis, unraveling its multiple functions, impact, challenges faced, and potential solutions.
What are the functions of Health Insurance During Crisis?
The various functions of health insurance during the crisis are:
- Financial Security:
Be it the humongous medical expenses, which include an array of hospitalization charges, treatment and surgery costs, medication expenses, and different healthcare facilities, health insurance is always there to provide financial cover. In the likelihood of a catastrophic crisis, usually when people suffer from sudden health problems, health insurance shields them from the bale of hefty hospital bills, guarding them against potential financial arrest.
- Ensures Timely Access to Healthcare Services
Many times, precious lives are lost due to the timely unavailability of essential healthcare facilities and required medical attention. The possession of Health insurance during crisis not only harbors easy access to diverse healthcare services but also provides timely medical attention to policyholders during emergencies or crisis-like situations.
In the absence of efficient health insurance during crisis, many people might delay or even avoid required treatment facilities due to hefty cost concerns, further deteriorating the health condition and increasing the overall health risks of the entire society.
- Risk Grouping and Effective Redistribution
The most basic principle of health insurance constitutes risk pooling, wherein a large group of individuals actively contribute. These contributions from a large pool are utilized to encapsulate the healthcare price of the few in dire need of medical care.
This aspect of health insurance is particularly appropriate and crucial during a crisis, as this mechanism distributes or instead redistributes the healthcare-associated financial risk more evenly across a large population, preventing adverse expenses from bombarding individuals, families, and even communities facing unexpected and sudden health provocations.
What is the Influence of Health Insurance During Crisis?
The influence of health insurance during a crisis is as follows:
- Alleviation of Health Risks
Health insurance helps somewhat reduce risks associated with an individual’s health, ensuring that every person has easy and timely access to preventive care, early-stage intervention, and necessary treatment procedures.
Besides covering individual health, this dynamic approach significantly contributes to a comprehensive public health approach by reducing the spread of highly infectious diseases and balancing the gravity of health crises.
- Improvement of Economic Stability
If we talk about the recent crisis, the magnanimous COVID-19 pandemic has proved that we should not overlook the significance of health insurance as it plays a crucial role in curating economic stability. In these severely tough times, health insurance conserved the finances at the household level, prevented the bankruptcy of many institutions, and, most importantly, shielded individuals from shrewd medical expenses. Consumer spending was supported to a great extent, thereby contributing to economic flexibility and recovery efforts.
- Promotion of Social Solidarity
When people are empowered to easily access diverse and, most importantly, affordable healthcare through facilities like health insurance during crisis, a certain level of social cohesion is fostered, which helps promote equity and coherence within the community. One of the significant positive impacts of health insurance during crisis is its aspect of harboring the healthcare access gap in disproportionately suffering populations, regardless of their social as well as economic status.
What are the Challenges Faced in Procuring Health Insurance During Crisis?
The various challenges faced in procuring health insurance during a crisis
Concerns regarding Affordability
One of the significant challenges levied in the health insurance sector is the insurance policy's affordability. No matter how important it is to possess a suitable health insurance policy, usually, its significance is outweighed by policy economics. Such economic constraints of a crisis exacerbate the affordability problems.
Such situations often force some individuals to delay or, in the worst case, forego the insurance coverage.
Disparities and Gaps in Insurance Coverage
It is noted that the majority of the uninsured individuals category constitutes immigrants who possess no documents or people from rural or below-poverty-line areas. Such individuals face severe disparity in health insurance coverage. This phenomenon further deteriorates the already existing inequalities in the health sector during crisis period. It becomes imperative on the part of policyholders to address such gaps through suitable interventions and policies to provide equally accessible healthcare facilities for all.
Complexity of Administrative Burden
One redundant aspect that holds back the individuals from procuring the benefits of health insurance during crisis is the complex and exhausting administrative burden. From uneducated individuals in rural areas to the educated ones in metropolitan cities, this problem is faced by all. It makes the procurement task highly frustrating and equally exhausting during the crisis. It also hinders the timely access of policy, and such a scenario in a crisis can prove to be lethal.
What Could be Some Prospective Solutions?
Here are some of the prospective solutions:
Focus Shift to Strengthening of Public Health Insurance Programs:
In order to cater to the requirements of diverse societies and to overcome the disparities, easy access to public health insurance programs should be strengthened. These include PM-JAY , Ayushman Bharat Yojana, Medicaid, etc. Through this initiative, vulnerable populations can have timely access to required healthcare facilities in times of crisis.
Promoting Awareness of Health Insurance Literacy among the masses:
It is a harsh truth, but even in today's 21st century, the masses are uneducated about health insurance facilities and their benefits. This alarming situation leads to catastrophic severity during the crisis period. According to the National Family Health survey conducted on the rural population in Pune, only 15.71% of families feel that health insurance is necessary, while 84.29% have never heard about it.
Awareness programs and outreach initiatives should be organized to educate such masses and burst the myth bubbles within which the baseless doubts thrive. This will not only reduce disparity and coverage gap but also strengthen the masses in the advent of crisis.
Adopting Technological Advancements:
It is time now that we adopt sufficient technological advancements in our administrative procedures. Streamlining and enhanced coordination of stakeholders, which helps improve the effectiveness of health insurance during crisis, is necessary as health insurance is necessary.
What are the Best Covid-19 Insurance plans in India?
Some of the best COVID-19 insurance plans in India are listed below.
- Bajaj Allianz Health Insurance
- Bharti AXA Health Insurance
- Care Health Insurance
Which is the Best Family Health Insurance Plan in India?
Some of the best family health insurance plans in India are listed below.
- Aditya Birla Activ Health Platinum Plan
- Bajaj Allianz Health Guard Plan
- Care Health Insurance
Conclusion
We all must remember that health insurance plays a multifaceted role and protects against health risks. It promotes economic security and stability while fostering much-needed social cohesion during a crisis. We should prioritize healthcare and ensure that health insurance becomes our most extensive defense mechanism in times of crisis.
