Health Insurance Card: How It Works and Why You Need It

A health insurance card is similar to an identity card, which proves your eligibility for medical coverage under a specific insurance policy. It allows you to access cashless treatments at network hospitals and verifies your policy details for quick claim processing.

Additionally, it ensures your health insurance is active, verifies claim eligibility, and facilitates seamless cashless treatment. Here, we will discuss how a health insurance card works and its importance in recent times.

How Does a Health Insurance Card Work?

Health insurance cards work in various ways and provide you with different benefits, such as allowing you to get access to medical services without upfront payment. We will discuss these in detail under this particular section, how this card works:

• Step 1: When you get admitted to a network hospital, you can present this health insurance card to initiate cashless treatment. It will allow you to get high-quality healthcare in top-notch hospitals.
• Step 2: The hospital will verify your coverage and directly bill the insurance provider. After this, the insurance provider will seek reimbursement from the hospital, preventing you from paying any upfront payment.
• Step 3: The card, along with an authorisation letter, will help you to streamline the claim process. It reduces paperwork and the time it takes to settle your medical expenses.
• Step 4: You can use your health insurance card to access the network hospitals of the insurer. Under these hospitals, the insurance company has agreements in place to settle medical bills directly.
• Step 5: You can also use this health insurance card for emergency assistance by accessing the emergency helpline number. This provides quick access to preventive care during medical emergencies.

What are the details present in a health insurance card?

The health insurance card contains all the essential details related to your policy. After cross-verifying this information, hospitals can gain correct information about your policy before they start your entire claim process. These are as follows:

• Name of the policyholder
• Date of birth
• Policy number
• Types of health insurance policies
• Name of the insurance company
• Sum insured
• Date of effectivity
• Date of expiry

This card eradicates the paper mess, removing the hassle of carrying physical documents. Hospitals can access all the necessary information and proceed with their claim and billing processes.

What are the Benefits of a Health Insurance Card?

A health insurance card simplifies and streamlines the process of accessing top-notch treatment options across India. Let us explore the benefits of a health insurance card in detail and how it helps during medical emergencies:

1. Access to Cashless Hospitalisation

Health insurance cards work properly only when you get admitted to any hospital in the network of that particular insurance company to provide the facility of cashless treatment. During the admission process, you need to submit the card to the hospital to initiate the cashless claim process and get your claim settled quickly and easily.

2. Direct Contact with the Insurance Company

Your health insurance card provides a toll-free helpline number, which you can use to resolve any queries during the claim process and directly contact the company. You can easily check the number available on your health card and contact the insurer to inform them of your claim for the health insurance policy.

3. Policy Details at Your Fingertips

During the filling of the claim form or informing your insurance company regarding your claim, you must mention your policy number to check your details. The hospital authority can easily get access to your policy details from the policy number mentioned on your card during the admission process.

4. Specifies the Date of Validity

Your health insurance card contains a date of validity. This particular date indicates the period up to which your insurance policy will be valid, and you need to renew your policy after that date. Sometimes, after the expiry of the validation date, the insurance company reissues a new card or may renew the plan, just like top-up health insurance plans.

5. Clarifies the Claim Validity

A health insurance card validates your claim, as it enables the hospital to cross-check the policy records, the validity of your health insurance policies, and your identity. After confirming all the details carefully, the hospital authority will validate your claim and allow your cashless treatment. This is highly beneficial during critical illness insurance claims when there is an urgency.

Also, your health insurance card is your key to accessing cashless maternity insurance benefits at network hospitals, simplifying the process of covering prenatal, delivery, and postnatal care expenses without significant upfront payments.

Final Words

You must carry your health insurance card, as you never know when an emergency might strike and there is an urgency of hospitalisation. You can easily avoid the hassle of paperwork and delays in cashless treatments. Additionally, you can inform your family regarding the features of accident insurance coverage to get help during any kind of accidental emergency.