A healthy life is what we all want and the secret to a healthy life is, a healthy heart. But in today’s fast-paced life, growing job demands and high level of tension has put our heart at risk. This has led to a huge spike in the incidences of cardiovascular diseases (CVD).

A similar trend has been witnessed in the health insurance industry where insurers say that heart related ailments continue to be a persistent reason for claims, across both metro and tier II/III cities, age groups and gender.

“Heart ailments are one of the major causes of claims in health insurance. In fact, if we analyse month on month data, increase in heart diseases claim count is around 14 claims per month. The average claim size that we receive is around Rs 1,10,000 but we have seen several cases where the hospitalization expenses running into lakhs of rupees,” said Bhaskar Nerurkar, head for health claims at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

In fact, data collected from Bajaj Allianz General Insurance for 2016-19 points out an alarming trend. The insurer witnessed 72 per cent rise in the number of claims due to heart related ailments from 2016 to 2019, with an average claims size of Rs 1,00,000 – 1,20,000.

Talking about the gender division, almost 70per cent of claimants are men, as against 30 percent female claimants but there has been 86 per cent rise in the number of females claiming because of heart related ailments. While there has been a 66 percent rise in men claiming for heart ailments.

In Bajaj’s case, most of the claimants are covered under a Group Medical Coverage (GMC) policy than an individual policy. Only 31 per cent of insureds have individual policies. A GMC policy may not necessarily provide the adequate coverage that an individual requires.

Along with adopting a healthy lifestyle which includes exercise and nutritious food it is important to purchase adequate insurance coverage to be ready to fight with any unwelcomed heart related ailments.

“For a 360 degree protection, we suggest that your basic health insurance policy should offer you a minimum of Rs 5 lakh rupee coverage, and you can top it up with a Rs 10 lakh Super Top up policy. Not only would this give you an adequate coverage but it would also be an economically viable option – an apt financial shield against any heart related health exigency,” said Nerurkar.

It is also highly advisable to buy a health insurance policy as early as possible as even young individuals are at high risk if suffering heart related ailments due to the sedentary lifestyle.

Any heart disease requires heavy expenditure including hospitalisation, doctor visits and medical expenses. Insurance companies are now also providing policies specifically for hearth diseases which also provides term insurance benefits. A healthy heart is a secret to hearty life and as we fast approach the World Heart Day on 29 September, it’s our duty to get our loved ones and ourself the deserved cover.