Cooling-off Period in Health Insurance

A cooling-off period is the waiting period during which the insurer will evaluate the health of the insured before deciding to cover him/her. The cooling-off waiting period is introduced for the COVID-19 survivors. So, if you are diagnosed with COVID-19, you need to wait for 15-90 days before you are allowed to buy a policy. Health Insurance companies like ManipalCigna, Niva Bupa, HDFC ERGO and ICICI Lombard provide such a cooling off period for health insurance buyers.

So, if a COVID-19 survivor has any health issues, he/she needs to undergo a medical examination and wait up to 30 days before buying health insurance. Some insurers also impose a 30-day cooling-off period before issuing a policy to a COVID survivor. Read this page and know more about the cooling-off period in Health Insurance.

Let’s Check the Details of Cooling-off Period in Health Insurance

A cooling-off period comes with the following features and conditions:

• The cooling-off period is the time during which if you are affected by COVID-19, you won’t be able to buy health insurance.
• As per the experts for COVID-19, the cooling-off period is necessary as it is a novel disease, and information and understanding of it are necessary.
• If you are tested negative, it will allow a reasonable time for the emergence of complications, if any.
• Once you’re covered under a policy, COVID-19 will be treated as a pre-existing condition. So, the rules regarding the coverages for pre-existing conditions of the particular insurer will apply.
• The cooling-off period ensures the correct summation regarding the health condition of the insured
• The cooling-off period makes sure that even if you don’t know about symptoms, you won’t face any issues at the time of claim settlement.
• Infectious diseases have a waiting period for the first 30 days from the inception of the policy. And if you are diagnosed with COVID, you will need to wait for 45 days from the date of diagnosis.