The cure for Coronavirus may be a year away, but insurance for Coronavirus is here.
The deadly outbreak of the coronavirus has become a big menace and a global nightmare for the entire world. After over 3,000 individual lives having been claimed by this outbreak, panic and fear have slowly started spreading roots in India as well. Amid this fear-stricken condition, with around 29 newly registered cases of the coronavirus-led disease Covid-19 in India, startups have reportedly joined the fight against the outbreak.
Digit Insurance, which is a Bengaluru based insurance company, has now come up with a unique offering. An insurance product for individuals who have been impacted by the coronavirus in India was recently launched by the startup as the treatment cost associated with the outbreak is being said to be very high.
Insurance coverage of INR 25,000 to INR 2,00,000 can be opted for by customers under this new product offering of the company. The insurance offers INR 299 per month as the minimum premium.
This particular unique insurance cover offering has been offered the ‘Digit Health Care Plus’ product of the company Digit. The company has also claimed that to encourage insurance providers to launch and test innovative products for the Indian market, they have filed this coronavirus-related insurance product under IRDAI’s sandbox regulations.
Digit has said that a hundred percent of the claim amount will be reimbursed by the company once a user has been diagnosed coronavirus positive from any of the authorised centres of ICMR – National Institute of Virology. Digit reportedly said that the user won’t have to wait for the completion of the treatment to get this claim.
In addition to this, if quarantine is advised by a government or an army hospital, for a consecutive of 14 days period, Digit will provide 50% of the claim even if the user is later declared coronavirus negative.
Medical bills needn’t be submitted to the company for setting claims the company further added. A certificate from a government medical officer can simply be sent to the company to the company, to begin with the Covid-19 treatment.
The company Digit Insurance has reportedly raised $84 million funding from A91 Partners, Faering Capital and TVS Capital at a post-money valuation of nearly $870 million last month prior to launching this coronavirus insurance product.
Startups Versus New-Age Health Crisis
Digit is not the only company offering Insurance to Coronavirus infected people. Besides Digit, a unique proposition to help organisations in the fight against coronavirus has been put forward by a US-based SaaS provider LogMeIn.
The Saas-based startup LogMeIn is now offering access to governments, municipalities, educational institutions, healthcare organisations, and non-profits, its collaboration and remote access software to help fight the outbreak.
The platform has been named as ‘Emergency Remote Work Kits’ by LogMeIn. The platform ensures critical organisations stay connected when it matters most via webinars and virtual events, remote IT support, and remote device access through its meetings and video conferencing solutions.
Acoer is another example which is a Georgia-based developer of blockchain-enabled applications which is helping the healthcare sector easily track and visualise the coronavirus outbreak using the blockchain technology.
The impact and emergency created by Coronavirus is no more a surprise for anyone. The Virus which was first discovered in China, has not created a panic situation in many countries including the US, India, France and UAE. Almost every major conferences or events such as Mobile World Congress (MWC) and Facebook Global Marketing Summit 2020 have been called off due to the fear of virus which is quite infectious. It is estimated that nearly $2 trillion has been lost in the US stock value due to the impact of Coronavirus on the global business world.
In India, more than 30 positive cases of Coronavirus has been reported so far. Experts also fear that the situation could go from bad to worse and the smartphone manufacturing industry could come to a complete halt.
Amid all such fear and panic in India, as well as globally, startups offering some relief in a form of insurance are currently championing the race against this deadly virus. Hopefully, they will continue to do so for other emerging healthcare risks in the future as well. We hope to see more such innovative offerings in the healthcare sector in the future.
