Protect Yourself from Dengue: Symptoms, Prevention, and Insurance

Does Your Health Insurance Cover Extend to Dengue Coverage?

Dengue Fever is a tropical disease caused by mosquito bites and the Dengue virus. The Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can only be found in tropical and subtropical areas, is known to spread the virus.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dengue is categorised as,

Dengue without warning signs
Dengue with warning signs
Severe Dengue

What is dengue insurance coverage?

A dengue insurance policy may help cover medical expenses occurring related to the dengue fever, like hospitalization, diagnostic tests, etc.

How do I choose a dengue insurance policy?

When buying a dengue insurance policy, you can consider the following things:

Coverage: Check if the policy covers dengue fever, and if it does, then check what it includes.
Exclusions: Check what's not covered, like pre-existing conditions, waiting periods, or some treatments.
Claim procedure: See the documents that are required and steps that are involved in making a claim.
Network hospitals: Check if the insurer has partnerships with hospitals or clinics that are specialized in the dengue treatment.
Sum insured: Find out how much the policy will pay out and if it's sufficient to cover the estimated medical expenses for dengue treatment.
Add-ons: Check if the insurer provides optional riders or add-ons to extra dengue coverage.
Free look period: See if the insurer provides a time period to review the policy and cancel it if you don't want it.

What are the symptoms of Dengue Fever?

The primary symptom of Dengue is fever accompanied by the signs listed below:

Nausea, vomiting
Rash
Aches and pains (eye pain, typically behind the eyes, muscle, joint or bone pain)
Headache
Nausea
Swollen glands

Treatment for Dengue

There is no specific treatment prescribed for Dengue Fever, but the adequate fluid intake and bed rest are crucial. Patient recovery is observed within two weeks.

How can you protect yourself from Dengue Fever?

The best way to avoid the disease is to avoid mosquito bites, especially if you live in or travel to a tropical area. This entails taking precautions and making efforts to reduce the breeding of mosquitoes.

Complications of Dengue

Dengue Fever can turn severe, and further lead to Dengue haemorrhagic syndrome and Dengue shock syndrome.

Dengue Fever proves to be fatal as the blood platelet count drops dramatically when infected with the Dengue virus. In such cases, treatment may entail hospitalisation, which may impose a significant financial burden. In order to get through such tough times, Health Insurance policies for Dengue Fever are available in India, which can take care of the medical expenses.

A standard indemnity Health Insurance policy covers only hospitalisation expenses incurred during in-patient treatment.

Is dengue covered in health insurance?

Yes, dengue fever is covered in some health insurance policies, but coverage might differ on the specific terms and conditions of each health policy. Dengue insurance policy is available in India and many other countries. Health insurance for dengue may act as dengue guard financially by reducing your medical burden. But getting treatment for dengue is the dengue guard for dengue illness. People residing in

dengue-risk areas, may consider opting for insurance for dengue.

What is covered under Health Insurance for Dengue?

A Dengue Health Insurance plan provides coverage for the following expenses:

In-patient hospitalisation expenses inclusive of room rent, transfusion charges, ICU charges, etc.
Pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses
Coverage for diagnostic tests incurred before or during hospitalisation
Doctor consultation fees
Pharmacy expenses
Out-Patient consultation and treatment expenses and much more
Home nursing expenses

What is excluded under Dengue Health Insurance?

The following expenses are not covered under a Health Insurance policy for Dengue in India:

Treatment cost of any disease other than Dengue Fever
No medical expenses are covered during the initial waiting period of 15 or 30 days
Cost of any treatment or medicine that is not required to cure the disease
Treatment taken at unauthorised centres.
Cost of Dengue treatment taken outside the country

Star Health Insurance offers many regular Health Insurance plans for a varied range of illnesses and ailments including Dengue. These policies cover the major medical expenses and help stay medically and financially secured.

Conclusion

Some insurance companies offer coverage for Dengue as a part of their basic Health Insurance plan. Thus, you can opt for this cover as a separate plan or as an add-on but make sure to include it in your standard Health Insurance portfolio.

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FAQs

How is the dengue claim made?

You may have chosen top dengue insurance but may not be aware of the claim process. If you want to make a dengue claim under the health insurance policy, you can do the following:  <ul><li>Provide required documents like policy document, discharge summary, billing details, medical reports, etc., to your insurance provider.</li><li>Contact the insurance provider through email or phone. </li><li>Consider the waiting period provided by health insurance plans before you can make a claim.</li></ul>