You already have a million reasons to wait – you wait for the bus, for the salary to be credited, for the order to be delivered to your table, for the maid each morning, for the upcoming commonwealth games – and the last thing you wanted to deal with is a waiting period after you buy a health insurance policy! You may be justified in feeling this way, but the "waiting period" is a part of your policy and determines from when do you benefit and how long you need to wait before relevant cover triggers, so it is pertinent that you have a complete understanding of the waiting periods in the health insurance policy you buy….

Why?

Any insurance in principle will make good financial loss suffered by the insured person arising out of unforeseen circumstances. It is therefore reasonable that insurance will not pay for expected/predictable losses. As an extension to this, insurance would require to avoid providing cover to illnesses that are known to exist and treatment for which in the near future is predictably necessary. Insurance therefore excludes cover for such ailments for different periods in time from the date of commencement of cover, depending on the type of ailment.

Overall, there are three main "waiting periods" that form a crucial part of any health insurance policy.

First,

• The initial waiting period

This refers to the 30 day waiting period (90 days in some cases) – from the date of the commencement of the policy until the first 30 days - within which you will not be covered for treatment of any disease or ailment, except treatment for accidental external injuries that require minimum 24 Hrs hospitalization..

• The ailment-specific waiting periods

This refers to the number of years one has to wait for treatment of specific ailments to be payable under the health insurance policy. This differs from company to company.

But generally, across all companies, during the period of insurance cover, the expenses on treatment of specific diseases contracted post inception the policy for specified periods are not payable .

For instance,

• Treatment of ENT disorders, polycystic ovarian diseases are covered only after 1 year from the date of commencement of the policy.
• Treatment of Diabetes, Hypertension, Hernia are payable only after 2 years from the date of commencement of the policy.
• Treatment of age related Osteoarthritis and Osteoporosis is payable only after 4 years from the date of commencement of the policy.

For this reason it is essential to completely be aware as to treatments for which ailments are payable and after how many years as per the policy wordings of the company from which you have purchased your health insurance policy.

Pre-existing disease - specific waiting period

A pre-existing disease refers to any illness, injury, or medical condition that existed prior to the date of the commencement of the policy.

Treatments for pre-existing diseases are covered and are payable by the insurance company, but only after the policy has been effective for a certain length in time. Waiting periods for pre existing diseases typically range from two to four years, depending upon the insurance company and the type of pre-existing disease.

To know more about Waiting period in a Health Insurance Policy

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