IRDAI Lifts Age Limit for Health Insurance, Now Covers Heart, Cancer, and AIDS Patients
There has been a major change in health insurance policies. Grandparents can now take health insurance policies. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made significant changes to the criteria for getting health insurance. The IRDAI has removed the age limit of 65 for policy buyers.
Earlier, people could buy a new health insurance policy only till the age of 65 years. Insurance regulator IRDAI has removed the age limit of 65 years for individuals purchasing health insurance policies. This means that now people above 65 years of age can also avail health policy.
This new rule for health insurance policies has come into effect from 1st April 2024. While eliminating the maximum age limit, the IRDAI issued a circular saying that insurance companies must ensure that health insurance is available to persons of all ages. The regulator has also urged health insurance companies to create separate channels for dealing with claims and complaints from senior residents.
In its circular, IRDAI has directed insurance companies to issue health insurance policies to persons with any pre-existing medical conditions. It has refused to ban insurance companies from offering policies to patients with serious illnesses such as heart disease, cancer, and AIDS, meaning companies cannot refuse to sell policies to people with these serious illnesses.
According to the circular, IRDAI has reduced the waiting period for health insurance to 36 months instead of 48 months. As per the notification, the insurer is also allowed to pay the premium in installments for the benefit of the policyholders. Whereas travel policies can only be issued by general and health insurers. It says that there is no limit on Aayush medical coverage.
