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With the onset of monsoon across Indian cities it’s important to check if you are well protected with the right insurance policies. During the monsoon, there are high chances of water borne or viral diseases breaking out, automobiles are prone to engine seizure due to vehicles getting stuck in floods and immense damage to a house and its contents in the event of flooding caused by heavy rains.

Sasikumar Adidamu, Chief Technical Officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said, “During the monsoon protect your health, vehicle and home by availing the right combination of insurance covers to avoid any major out-of-pocket expenses.”

Buy a comprehensive health insurance policy

The most common ailments in the monsoon for which the insurance companies receive claims include diarrhoea, dengue, viral fever, typhoid fever, malaria, asthma, Hepatitis A, leptospirosis and chikungunya. “Nowadays, there are products in the market that provide disease specific cover at marginal costs, but they cover a very limited incidence,” Puneet Sahni, Head-Product Development, SBI General Insurance, said.

Tarun Mathur, Chief business Officer, General Insurance, Policybazaar.com, added that one can avail of disease specific plans as specific protection or as an add-on protection. Dengue is the only (infectious + communicable) diseases for which there are retail plans available in the market. The two insurance companies offering such plans are Apollo Munich-Dengue Care and DHFL Pramerica-Dengue Shield.

“We would strongly recommend indemnity policy - a comprehensive health insurance - instead of disease specific plans. It covers the commonly occurring monsoon-related ailments and insures the policyholder for hospitalisation charges or medical treatments for accidents which also increase during these seasons,” Adidamu said.

Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, said, “Most of these health insurance policies have a 30-45 day waiting period from the commencement of the policy. It varies as per product, insurance company, sum insured and plan chosen.” There are some exceptions here. For instance, there is no disease specific waiting period for up to 45 year olds in Max Bupa Heart Beat plan.

Health insurance policies cover all water-borne disease, including expenses for ailments requiring 24 hour hospitalisation, pre-hospitalisation expenses for 60 days and post-hospitalisation expenses for 90 days.

Take a personal accident policy

Jyoti Punja, Chief Customer Officer, Cigna TTK Health Insurance, advises one to buy a separate personal accident plan as protection against all financial eventualities due to accidental injury/death caused due to overcast sky and potholed roads. A personal accident insurance cover will pay the pre-decided sum assured based on injury and disability and the entire sum assured is paid in case of death.

Take an add-on covers to protect your automobile

Many claims are reported during monsoons, most of which are due to water ingression in the vehicle engine. Reasons for the damage are either flooding or because the vehicle is driven through water-logged areas. Adidamu warns that a standard motor insurance policy does not cover damage to the engine due to water seepage (hydrostatic lock). "It does not pay the depreciation amount on repair and replacement of parts, which one ends up paying out of their own pocket.”

Anurag Rastogi, Member of Executive Management, HDFC ERGO General Insurance, recommends that consumers should protect their cars with add-on covers as follows:

- Engine and gearbox protector: This add-on cover provides protection to the engine and electronic circuit within the car, especially during monsoons when water-logging increases the risk of damage to the engine. The advantage of this add-on is that the insured gets coverage for the monetary loss which he would otherwise incur due to engine damage. Sahni said the engine cover is available at a marginal cost of 0.5 percent of the value of the vehicle, which is worth spending to protect exposure to such high losses.

- Zero Depreciation cover helps reduce the cost of losses which the insured would have to bare due to the wear and tear of replaced parts like plastic/rubber, fibre, metal and paint.

- Emergency road side assistance: With this ad-on cover, the insurer will provide certain emergency services like refuelling, towing, change of flat tyre, mechanic's services, etc in case the car breaks down due to water-logging /heavy showers.