United India Insurance Co Ltd has launched all new family medicare policy with revised features. The new version provides for a remote medical second opinion from world’s leading medical centres for certain medical conditions.
The insured needs to contact the toll-free number provided by the company and a list of three world leading medical centres would be given to choose from for obtaining a second opinion. All details of present medical records would be collected from the insured and the medical second opinion would be provided within 10 working days, a statement said.
The revised policy has the sum insured options with a minimum of Rs.2 lakh and a maximum of Rs.10 lakh. For hernia and hysterectomy, the maximum sum has been increased to Rs.1 lakh. Also, the restriction of sum insured subject to maximum of Rs.4 lakh for claims in respect of illness or surgeries has been removed and full sum insured will be available for any major claim.
Of course, all these come with a small additional premium. Cashless access would be made available in all network hospitals and in PPN hospitals in PPB cities.
The insured is entitled to a no claim discount of three per cent after three continuous claim free years and for every subsequent claim free year subject to a maximum of 15 per cent.
With the government deciding to increase the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) cap in the insurance sector to 49 per cent just ahead of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday described it as a “welcome gift” for the U.S. leader and a green signal to the “dodgy practices” that led to the global financial crisis in 2008.
Dwelling on the issue in the editorial of the latest issue of the party organ, People’s Democracy, the CPI(M) said the FDI cap in insurance was being raised to appease the U.S. and finance capital though the record of foreign insurance companies does not inspire any confidence as far as financial stability and proper coverage were concerned.
Referring to the 2008 global financial crisis, the CPI(M) said it starkly exposed the vulnerability of the financial sector in the United States and how people were defrauded by these companies and their dodgy practices to maximise profit.
“AIG, the biggest insurance company, was on the verge of collapse and had to be bailed out by the U.S. Government at a huge cost. Refusing to learn from this sobering experience, the volatility and vulnerability of the deregulated financial system is being imported into India’s insurance and financial sector.”
Pointing out that India’s life insurance sector was nationalised in 1956 after a series of failures and scandals in private insurance companies, the CPI(M) warned of a return to those days. “The risk of entry of profit-seeking foreign companies, investing in high-risk ventures and jeopardising the savings and interests of the people is real.”
