Reliance Health Insurance Forays into Robotic Surgery

In the last few decades, robotic technology has brought in humungous change in the field of medical science. However, robotic surgeries are not covered under most insurance plan. To cater to such needs, Reliance Health Insurance has decided to foray into the field with MORE health insurance plan. MORE provides coverage for such treatments with a 50 percent co-payment.

Ravi Vishwanath, ED and CEO, Reliance Health Insurance said, "With numerous health plans available in the market, our challenge was to introduce an innovative product which will add value to our customers. We are first of its kind health insurance plan across the country to cover robotic surgery. Our focus is to understand the needs of the customer and create a unique proposition works towards providing best health insurance plans.”

Robotically-assisted surgery was developed to try to overcome the limitations of pre-existing minimally-invasive surgical procedures and to enhance the capabilities of surgeons performing open surgery. Such procedures allow doctors to perform many complex surgeries with more precision, flexibility and control as compared to conventional techniques. Robotic surgery is usually associated with minimally invasive surgery through tiny incisions. Few of the advantages of such surgeries include less pain and blood loss, fewer complications, speedy recovery, smaller and less noticeable scars.

They can be used for a number of different procedures, including cutting away cancer tissue from sensitive parts of the body such as blood vessels, nerves, or important body organs, coronary artery bypass, gall bladder removal, heart valve surgery, hip replacement,

hysterectomy, kidney removal, kidney transplant, mitral valve repair, orchestrating care (and robotic surgery) for prostate cancer

pyeloplasty (surgery to correct ureteropelvic junction obstruction), Pyloroplasty, radical prostatectomy, radical cystectomy and tubal ligation.

Vishwanath also explains the importance of robotic surgery and about change in health care scenario, “If a policyholder undergoes through robotic surgery, it is not compulsory for him or her to stay at the hospital for more than 24 hours. In many cases, the patient can be discharged after a couple of hours. We pay claims regardless of how many hours the patient stayed in hospital for the particular treatment. We understand the advantage of modern technology.”

Health insurance plans are bought with the hope of covering health care expenses at the time of medical emergencies. However, most of the health insurance plans have longer list of exclusions than what is covered. The difference between expectation and reality could lead to bitter experiences and it’s advisable to enquire everything that is covered under a plan and to avoid painful experiences at the time of claim.

Further, Vishwanath added, “MORE covers mental illnesses for which one needs hospitalisation like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Not only this they also provide coverage for stem cell therapy, an upcoming futuristic technology in medical science and is of immense importance. However, it covers stem cell surgeries and therapies with a co-payment.”

MORE also provides and enables policyholder to get Rs 7 lakh sum insured for the price of Rs 5 lakh cover (Rs 5 lakh base cover and Rs 2 lakh MORE Cover benefit) and Rs 13 lakh cover for a price of Rs 10 lakh sum insured (Rs 10 lakhs base cover and Rs 3 lakhs MORE Cover benefit). A policyholder can get 10 per cent discount on total premium if medical report or medical examination documents are submitted at the time of buying health insurance.

The health insurer obtained regulatory approval on October 3, 2018 from IRDAI to undertake health insurance business in India. MORE health plan comes with no restrictions on the ambulance charge. However, most of the insurers have restriction on the ambulance cost. While in emergency one needs an ambulance but in case of a planned treatment and admission to a hospital, MORE allows one to claim upto Rs 500 for a taxi to the hospital.