How buying insurance can motivate you to maintain a healthy lifestyle?

Often times, health insurance coverage is considered useful especially during hospitalization. However, realizing the need to maintain a healthy lifestyle to prevent related diseases, insurance companies in India have included a number of additional benefits in their health insurance products to guide the insured in cultivating better habits.

As a result, purchasing health insurance can not only help policyholders during emergencies, but also motivate them to adopt a diet and exercise routine to stay fit.

Wellness programs and coaches call for better guidance

Innovative offerings increasingly coupled with health insurance; wellness programs are health initiatives aimed at promoting well-being. These programs focus on guiding policy holders on how to create and maintain the right diet, developing exercise routines, and even providing tips on better stress management. Offered at no additional cost, this wellness program comes with the availability of a health trainer on call for additional, personalized guidance. The combination of passive health programs together with health coaches can encourage policy holders to change their lifestyles and prevent many critical illnesses.

Provision of annual health checks to detect disease before it poses a high risk

Even for individuals who have never been hospitalized or have had any sort of illness, there is a need to undergo periodic health assessments. However, most adults do not have annual health checks, unless directed by their doctor. By purchasing health insurance coverage, the policyholder is entitled to a free annual health check if there is no hospitalization during the policy period. This ensures that even for unpaid individuals, a health insurance policy can assist in insuring imminent breakdown or diagnosing a critical illness at an early stage, thereby reducing the complexities or risks involved if the same is detected at a later stage.

Health education library and dial-a-doctor feature

Several insurance companies leverage their knowledge base by providing 24×7 online access to their policyholders. This health education library contains information about various diseases, how they spread throughout the body and what changes a person can make in their daily life to prevent or reduce the chances of contracting them. Online health guides and videos help in understanding even complex medical concepts or terms and even offer tips on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

In addition, features such as live chat with health experts can help policyholders clear their doubts or get specific advice for certain ailments. Thus, such an online repository of health-related information can be of great help in motivating the insured to adopt healthier habits, reassuring them about existing ailments and even how to combat them without suffering undue stress.

Regular newsletter with health related articles

One of the most common benefits that come with buying health insurance is getting access to a newsletter containing nutritional information, diet tips, and access to study material that can guide policyholders in maintaining optimal health. These newsletters are distributed weekly or monthly and provide information that can be of great help in making small lifestyle changes.

Examples are simple food recipes to replace unhealthy foods for people suffering from certain diseases such as diabetes, exercise which can prevent conditions such as spinal dysfunction, and even changing one’s sleep cycle to increase physical and mental stress levels. What’s more, with articles written by domain experts and renowned doctors, policyholders get early access to information previously only available in medical journals or magazines.

As can be seen, buying health insurance is the beginning of maintaining a healthy lifestyle because of the series of benefits and features that come with it. It therefore makes sense to secure yourself with health insurance coverage as early as possible and take advantage of all the services on offer to lead a healthier life.

Sharad Mathur, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Sompo General Universal Insurance

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