The Ultimate Guide to Boosting Your Health and Savings with Fitness and Insurance!

Protect your health and your wallet with preventive healthcare and health insurance. Discover how staying fit can save you money on premiums and earn your rewards. Learn more now!

1. Maintaining good health can lower health insurance premiums.
2. Policyholders who meet wellness criteria can earn rewards, such as discounted premiums.
3. IRDAI introduced guidelines to incentivise healthy lifestyles and promote wellness benefits.
4. Wellness benefits can reduce the number of health issues and claims, benefiting policyholders and insurers.

The saying "health is wealth" has become even more relevant in the past two years, as the pandemic highlights the importance of fitness and immunity. While staying healthy is essential, it's not always guaranteed against medical emergencies. That's why having health insurance is crucial for safeguarding yourself against unforeseen medical costs. Moreover, maintaining good health can lower your health insurance premiums thanks to recent guidelines from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). Insurers now offer reward points (programs) to incentivise policyholders who meet wellness criteria. This article will delve deeper into how prioritising preventive healthcare can benefit your health and finances.

Also Read: A new revolution in health insurance? IRDAI directs insurers to launch plans for HIV and mental illness

Exploring wellness benefits: What benefits do they bring to your life?

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has benefits beyond physical well-being. One significant advantage is its impact on your health insurance premium. Insurance companies offer benefits to individuals with a lower risk profile, and staying fit and healthy can help lower the risk of costly medical treatments. In addition, policyholders who stay fit and healthy during the policy year can earn wellness benefits such as discounted premiums, higher sum assured, vouchers, or free services at the time of renewal.

Need for Wellness Benefits

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) introduced guidelines to promote healthy living and incentivise health insurance policyholders to maintain a healthy lifestyle. The government launched the Fit India movement in 2019 to promote healthy living and reduce the burden on India's healthcare infrastructure. These benefits encourage policyholders to maintain a healthy regime and exchange reward points for premium discounts or other uses. The inclusion of wellness benefits in the policy aims to reduce the number of health issues and claims, benefitting both the policyholder and the insurance company. This mutually beneficial arrangement allows insurers to offer a broader range of policy benefits at an affordable price.

Also Read: Why are multi-year health insurance plans better for you than single-year health insurance plans?

How to earn these reward points?

Earning wellness (reward) points through daily steps is widely used, and policyholders can accumulate them by connecting the insurer's app with their fitness device. 

How to claim these reward points?

These reward points can be redeemed for discounts on prescription expenses, outpatient visits, diagnostic fees, and more. Additionally, policyholders can use these reward points to pay their renewal premiums. 

However, despite the advantages of wellness benefits, only 15% of customers use their wellness points as discounts while renewing their policies, according to data from Policybazaar.com.

Also Read: Reduce your personal health insurance premium if you have an employer-sponsored plan!

Finding a fitness routine you enjoy and can stick with for a long time is essential to achieve success in maintaining good health. You can try different types of physical activity like dancing, swimming, or hiking until you find one you like. You should also make small changes to your eating and lifestyle habits instead of following a strict diet. Remember that making healthy choices is good for your body and wallet, so try to choose healthy options whenever possible.

To promote healthy living, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) now offers reward points to policyholders who meet wellness criteria, such as discounted premiums, vouchers, or free services. This inclusion of wellness benefits in policies aims to reduce the number of health issues and claims, benefitting policyholders and insurers. Customers can accumulate reward points by connecting the insurer's app with their fitness device by taking daily steps. These reward points can be redeemed for discounts on prescription expenses, outpatient visits, diagnostic fees, and renewal premiums.