The Hindu Business Line : Andhra Bank card holders offered healthcare sop

PROVIDING a boon to the customers in the days of high healthcare costs, New India Assurance Company, the public sector non-life major, has designed a cashless facility in the form of Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) exclusively for the credit cardholders of Andhra Bank.

Despite continuous adverse claims experience during the current fiscal, New India has decided to offer the scheme at a discounted rate. This is because the mediclaim premium rates have gone up on account of increase in service tax from 5 per cent to 8 per cent by the Government.

The insurance major has also decided to renew the group mediclaim policy that was exclusively designed for the Andhra Bank credit cardholders, which is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2004.

"This scheme is drawn exclusively for Andhra Bank credit cardholders by the New India Assurance Company to provide insurance cover to cardholders and the members of their family at concessional rates of premium against the risk of unanticipated medical expenses on hospitalisation only," the New India Divisional Manager, Mr A. Venugopal, said.

"The TPA would extend all the help that the insured person requires to get the admission into the hospital and subsequent treatment. Apart from cashless facility, usual reimbursement facility is still available," Mr Venugopal informed the Andhra Bank credit cardholders in a communiqué.

New India has designed five options containing different sums insured for the convenience of credit cardholders of Andhra Bank. The amount of premium payable for one year varies according to the age of the insured person and also the sum insured chosen for him.

According to Mr Venugopal, TPAs engaged by New India Assurance would provide cashless hospitalisation treatment benefit to the insured persons in most efficient and cost effective manner by establishing a network of hospitals in every city and town.

The insured can take treatment in any of these network hospitals under intimation to the TPAs, without paying any amount to the hospitals. Claims should be settled as per conditions of group mediclaim insurance policy.