Health insurers offer Nano price

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

With increased penetration of government health insurance schemes like RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana) coupled with private hospitals building capacity across the country, health insurers are also looking at smaller markets.

Private health insurer Star Health is at present piloting a Rs 1 lakh sum insured cover with an annual premium of Rs 1,000 across a few districts in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “The increased penetration of healthcare facilities has resulted in lesser movement of patients to metros at least for routine procedures. If a person chooses to get a procedure done in a metro, the entire sum insured is wiped out very soon. On the other hand, the same policy can be better utilized if the same procedure is possible back in his home town,” V Jagannathan, CMD, Star Health and Allied Insurance said.

And while a differentiated product offering may help insurers get volumes initially, officials state a growing population plus demand for quality health care is pushing insurers to look at such markets.

Source: The Times of India (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
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Base of the Pyramid, business development