Best performing insurers – Fortune India

2. Pandemic Aids Growth, Wider Adoption Of Health Insurance

Demand rises for short-term covers; top health insurers settle majority of honoured claims within 30 days.

The pandemic underscored the importance of a health policy like never before. But besides the cover amount and premium charges, investors also need to look at the claims settlement rate. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company tops this year’s ranking for its paid claims settlement rate of 90% — 97% of the claims were settled within 30 days. It was followed by ICICI Lombard General Insurance and Care Health. Both ICICI Lombard and Care Health Insurance settled all honoured claims within 30 days, against the industry average of 82%.

“Covid-19 accelerated the topline growth in health insurance, driven by a combination of factors,” says Avinash Singh, senior research analyst, Emkay Global Financial Services. An increase in the number of people opting for health insurance, demand for short-term Covid health covers and increased claim costs have resulted in strong growth in premiums, he adds.

With social distancing becoming the norm, companies have taken to digital like never before. “We made our processes simpler for customers, especially the buying and claims journey, by integrating and enabling digital assets… Cashless claims were settled within an hour of turnaround time,” says T.A. Ramalingam, chief technical officer, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.

Bajaj Allianz allows cashless treatment in over 6,500 network hospitals, while ICICI Lombard has a network of over 4,500 hospitals pan-India and Care Health Insurance over 16,500.

Innovation has also been key. “We recently launched a 100% cashless OPD solution — BeFit —serviced through our IL TakeCare app. We were among the first to launch pandemic-relevant feature of home care cover for customers in 2020,” says Sanjay Datta, chief, underwriting, claims and reinsurance, ICICI Lombard.

“‘Care’ has been the guiding principle for our customer-centric initiatives — from our product bouquet to digital/app-driven service interfaces that ensure seamless product utilisation by consumers,” Anuj Gulati, MD and CEO, Care Health Insurance.

Health insurance premiums, meanwhile, have jumped 10-15% for the middle-aged, on an average. In some cases, premiums have even doubled for senior citizens.

Such premiums allow a tax benefit of up to ₹25,000. An additional ₹25,000 deduction (₹50,000 in case of senior citizens) is available on payment of premiums for parents’ insurance.