Are Sports and Gym Injuries Covered by Health Insurance Policy in India?

Sports and Fitness Insurance in India – Does Health Insurance Cover Sports and Gym Injuries?

Staying physically fit is the utmost criterion to lead a healthy and disease-free life. Thus, nowadays, many people are visiting gyms or opting for sports activities to maintain their fitness. But whether you are a sportsperson or a fitness aficionado, you must be aware that accidental injuries can happen anytime while practicing sports/gym activities. By adopting the right strategies, you should safeguard yourself against such untoward events.

People purchase health insurance policies to protect themselves against various life-threatening diseases. The popularity of health insurance plans is surging especially after the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic. But does the best health insurance cover sports and fitness injuries? Let’s dig deeper.

Common Sports and Gym Injuries that You May Experience

People who are associated with sports and fitness activities are more prone to getting various injuries. Depending on your injury type, you may need to spend a humongous amount for the treatment. Some popular types of sports and gym injuries are,

• Muscle twists
• Bone and knee fracture
• Ligament tears
• Joint dislocation
• Achilles tendon injuries

All these injuries could give you excruciating pain and affect your activities if you don’t pay attention to them. The treatment could be time-consuming and expensive. Sometimes, you may need rehabilitation programs to overcome these injuries which will again raise your treatment costs.

Does any Health Insurance Policy Support Sports or Gym Injuries?

People who actively participate in gym/sports activities may get injuries at any point in life. Exercises like strength training, cycling, swimming or playing tennis or football or some adventurous sports activities will enhance your chance of getting these injuries.

The treatment expenses will certainly burn your pocket and will give you additional financial stress while dealing with these injuries. But this doesn’t imply you should ignore your fitness regime.

You must be astonished to know that many mediclaim insurance plans offer coverage for these types of sports and gym-related injuries. Though there is some exclusion, still, you can initiate a claim for many of these injuries. But before investing in a health insurance policy, you should have adequate knowledge regarding this exclusion.

Which sports injuries are compensated by health insurance?

Health insurance plans don’t offer coverage for high-risk sports activities (adventurous) like rock climbing, scuba diving, racing, paragliding, etc. Normal people are not adventurous and hence, they used to participate in these activities once in a lifetime at their own risk. Apart from these activities, other sports injuries are covered by health insurance.

But you also remember that health insurance plans won’t offer coverage for OPD or outpatient costs under this category. Gym injuries are small muscle/ligament injuries which you need to pay from your pocket. Thus, a health insurance policy will not be suitable for gym injuries.

This indicates you don’t get any financial coverage for ligament injuries, physiotherapy, fractures and minor sprains from your health policy. You will only get reimbursed for these costs if you need hospitalization for your treatment or if these OPD expenses are included in the recovery process.

Health insurance plans that offer coverage for gym and sports injuries

In case of hospitalization, many Indian health insurance providers offer coverage for sports injuries. Even many personal accident insurances or critical illness insurance policies reimburse the costs of sports injuries.

The markets are crammed with some customized health insurance plans that will specially cater to the needs of sports/gym injuries. These plans offer you coverage against various injuries such as ligament tear, bone fractures, and other injuries as per their policy wordings.

When you are in some other country, many travel health insurance policies will embrace you with optional coverage for adventure sports. But the coverage is not the same for all policies. So, before purchasing a policy, you must be aware of what type of sports injuries are covered under your selected policy plan.

Things you should look out for while initiating a claim for sports/gym injuries

Always go through every tiny detail of the policy before making any financial commitment. Read the policy wordings cautiously. Before initiating a claim from your insurer, remember the below-mentioned things.

• If you are intoxicated or use other illegal substances, then no sports injuries will be covered
• Minor strains or common injuries won’t be covered by most insurance providers
• Sports activities like motorsports, cliff diving, foxhunting, and other high-risk activities won’t be covered by many Indian health insurance companies
• Many health insurers are often not willing to provide coverage for injuries that you may get at an illegal or non-registered gym training center
• A specific sports insurance policy will only offer coverage for Injuries during internal sports events and tournaments. Regular mediclaim policies won’t cover these types of injuries.
• If you are injured due to some illegal activities, then you won’t be covered under health insurance
• Most health insurance plans won’t cover any treatment plan if it belongs to the group of cosmetic treatments.
• Policyholders who are below 18 years may not initiate any claim for sports injuries under Mediclaim insurance.

After the gruesome COVID-19 pandemic, people have started to give priority to their health. Many of them are hitting fitness centers or participating in various sports activities to improve their endurance and fitness. Injuries and accidents are more common when you are leading a super active life. But this fear shouldn’t overpower your fitness regime. By purchasing a comprehensive health insurance policy, you can stay protected from various sports injuries and may lead a healthy life.