Parents of children with neuro-developmental disorders can get health insurance coverage, which includes therapy and other consultation benefits, through a group insurance policy of a startup, Mom’s Belief, which has tied up with Care Health Insurance. Mom’s Belief is founded by Nitin Bindlish, who is also the company’s CEO, with funding from high-profile individual investors.
The company’s objective is to have holistic child development and to empower parents of children with special needs by providing them with tools and professional support. In addition to providing the regular hospitalisation cover, the policy also provides managed care benefits and various therapies. Mom’s Belief is also creating capacity and will increase the number of its therapy centres from 100 to 400 in six to nine months. Policyholders will have the option of face-to-face consultations or availing of a tele-consulting facility.
“We did a soft launch in January and we will be onboarding parents in a phased manner,” said Bindlish. “We have jointly developed this product with Care Health Insurance by providing them data and technical inputs to underwrite this,” he added.
Although the regulator has allowed for covering mental health and managed care, insurers have not been forthcoming in providing this cover. Mom’s Belief has facilitated this by defining the benefits that will be provided and building the servicing network on its own. Users will also get cover for pathology and nutrition consulting on a co-pay basis. There are plans to widen the scope of coverage in coming months.
A Rs 1.5-lakh policy will cover hospitalisation for up to Rs 1 lakh and non-hospitalisation treatment, including therapy benefits, for up to Rs 50,000. The premium for this policy will be about Rs 16,000, depending on tax slabs. The therapy benefit itself will be worth Rs 25,000,” said Bindlish..
The four types of specialists available include occupational therapists, speech therapists, special educators, and child psychologists. “We are a social enterprise, we work on volumes so that we can pass on the benefits. We also rely very heavily on technology as centres cannot be opened everywhere. We can cover the remotest areas using technology,” he added.
