Consumables Cover in Health Insurance – Meaning, Benefits & Items Covered

When buying a health insurance plan, it is important to know all about it, including the add-on cover benefits that it provides. Here we discuss the consumables cover in health insurance. Read on to know more.

Your health insurance plan is your vital backup in case of any medical emergency that involves a huge cost. By buying health insurance plans for you and the family, you are bracing yourself well in advance for any uninformed, unpredictable expenditure that may come in the future. Now, health insurance plans generally provide adequate coverage to the policyholder for the major cost of the treatment; however, there are some costs that may not be covered as part of the base insurance policy.

For such additional costs, it is advisable to purchase add-on covers in health insurance that provide extra benefits in terms of added coverage, over and above the base plan. The consumables cover in mediclaim policy is one such example of an add-on cover benefit. Let’s see below all that this cover entails and how it can benefit the policyholder.

Meaning of Consumables Cover in Health Insurance Policy

If we go by the literal definition of the term, as stated in health insurance plans, consumables in the medical industry generally refer to (but are not limited to) all single-use medical equipment. This means all the disposable equipment and medical aid that gets discarded after one time use.

Now, when these consumables are used for a patient as part of the treatment procedure during their hospital stay, their cost is directly included in the patient’s hospital bill. However, if the patient has a mediclaim plan in their name, the cost of these consumables is covered by the health insurance company.

Why Do You Need a Consumables Cover in Your Mediclaim Plan?

We may often not realize but the cost of these consumables during hospitalization can actually amount to a significant number in our hospital bill at the time of discharge. For instance, the medical staff may require you to buy a whole pack of bandage roll as part of the treatment procedure, while only half of it was actually used. This means wastage of the remaining part but you’d need to pay for the entire pack, which would be charged on your bill.

Many more similar single-use items are charged to the patient as part of hospitalization. Small amounts of consumables add up to a large amount which can sometimes make the hospital bill appear huge. This is where the consumables cover in health insurance can be of help, covering these small but significant amounts in your hospital bill.

Benefits of Consumables Cover in Medical Insurance

We already discussed why it helps to buy a consumables cover in health insurance. The prime reason is that there is a lot of disposable, one-time use surgical equipment used at hospitals. All of these consumables are charged directly to the patient, which can sometimes form a considerable part of their bill. The consumables add-on benefit helps cover this cost for the patient. Here are some of the other reasons it helps to buy this cover as part of your mediclaim plan:

1. Several items used and charged as part of hospitalization are generally excluded from health insurance plans. They may not seem too expensive, especially when purchased as single items, but could amount to a significant bill when bought over a long period of hospitalization stay. The consumables cover prevents the burden of payment for these consumable items on the patient.
2. There is generally considerable wastage of everyday-use consumable items in hospitals when only a small amount of an entire pack of disposable surgical equipment is actually used by the medical staff. However, the bill for the entire item is charged to the patient. With the consumables cover, this bill can be charged to the insurer.
3. Buying the add-on consumables rider benefit with your health insurance plan is relatively cheaper than paying for consumables that keep adding on to your bill over a long period of hospital stay.

Items Covered Under Consumables Cover of Health Insurance

Now that we know that purchasing this add-on rider benefit is only in our favor, let’s look at some of the consumable items used during hospitalization that are covered under this plan:

• Room services used by the patient and attendant during hospital stay such as TV, A/C, telephone, luxury tax, and the like
• Administrative charges that include admission kit at the time of admission of the patient into the hospital, visitors’ pass, discharge process, maintenance of medical records, and other documentation expenses
• Items provided by the housekeeping staff for daily use, such as mineral water bottle, tissue paper, diapers for baby, cradle, toiletries like toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap, shampoo, shower caps, carry bags, and the like
• Surgical disposables used as part of the treatment procedure – cotton roll, needles, razors, syringes, masks, sanitizers, gloves, gowns, surgical tape, PPE kits, thermometer, braces, collars, crepe bandages.

Why are Consumables Normally Not Covered in Health Insurance?

The consumable items used as part of hospital treatment are generally required for one-time use and discarded thereafter (owing to safety reasons). Hence, the hospital staff needs to use such items frequently during the entire hospital stay of the patient. This adds on the hospital bill of the patient and makes it considerably higher, which most insurance companies are reluctant to pay for.

However, with the add-on consumables cover being added to the base health insurance plans, patients can now opt for buying this benefit over and above the base policy. The charges for consumable items and services charged to the patient at the time of discharge can then be claimed with the insurer under the consumables cover of the plan.