R ARIVANANTHAM
CHENNAI, MARCH 23
Health insurance company Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited. on Tuesday announced the launch of Star Women Care Insurance Policy, a woman-centric comprehensive health cover specially designed to protect the health-care needs of women at every stage of their lives.
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At Star Health, we aim to provide women with a customized policy that provides adequate insurance cover for all their health-related needs at every stage of their life: Dr S Prakash, Managing Director, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited
Launching the policy Dr S Prakash, Managing Director, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited said, “The women-centric policy was born after a thorough research and detailed discussion with medical experts over six months. This would fill the gap, as there was no insurance cover available for new born babies from Day 1. We have consulted leading experts to understand the health needs of women, pregnant women in particular, foetal health and newborn and conceptulised this policy to meet their needs. The policy also covers areas which have not been embarked upon by any insurance company so far.’’
“At Star Health, we aim to provide women with a customized policy that provides adequate insurance cover for all their health-related needs at every stage of their life. Expectant mothers can now have access to all treatments without worrying about the financial costs due to insurance. With increased insurance penetration, we believe we can reduce the financial impact of congenital birth defects on young parents and make access to superior medical care, a reality for many women. A policy of this kind, apart for paying for the health care expenses will also help in reducing the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR).”
This will be another feather on the cap of Stare Health and Allied Insurance Company Limited, as it enjoys 32 of market share in retail sales of non-life insurance policies. The Insurance firm begun its journey 15 years ago with the sole purpose to help the needy has extended its service to 7 million customers through half a million agents and 786 branches across the country, Dr Prakash added.
Dr Suresh Seshadri, Director, MEDISCAN Systems, Chennai , “This new initiative is a fulfillment of my 20 year old dream. Babies that have health issues like cardiac problems, Twin to Twin transfusion syndrome or other medical conditions can lead a healthy normal life if they are treated on time. These fetal surgeries form the determining factor between life and death for these babies. These procedures are often expensive and hence many mothers opt for termination of the pregnancy than to save the precious future king/queen of our nation. Insurance cover for such procedures is the need of the hour for women.”
Dr Ramesh Babu S, Honorary Secretary TN Chapter of Indian Association of Pediatric Surgeons welcomed the move to cover both congenital internal and external defects for newborn from day 1. He said it is a paradigm shift in health insurance and is likely to save at least 1 lakh middle class families from falling in to poverty every year due to the birth of a baby with a congenital anomaly. He also emphasized that healthy women should opt to take the policy which will protect them and enhance the penetration of Insurance in India.
Dr S Sampathkumari, Vice President-elect, Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India has expressed that Star Health has empowered women with a customized Health Insurance cover especially on women’s day. Coverage for latest technologies like Assisted Reproduction is a game changer she said. Often, women assume that pregnancy is mostly a smooth journey. But in today’s modern world, many lifestyle diseases such as Diabetes, Hypertension, etc. lead to complication at the time of delivery. The new policy from Star Health provides cover to treat such Neo-natal/ pregnancy complications.
“One of the wonderful features is the policy cover for assisted reproduction. Nowadays we see incidences of infertility on the rise. This policy truly empowers women and gives them back the choice of motherhood. No women should be deprived of this due to financial constrains,” she added.
