ETHealthworld editor Shahid Akhter said: Sriraj DeshpandeHead – Health Business, SBI Non-life insurancefind out about new trends Health insurance.
Trends that define health insurance industry India: Opportunities, Challenges and Current Status of Insurance Penetration.
The pandemic has made everyone aware of the uncertainty of life and the importance of being prepared for health-related emergencies. Public awareness of health insurance has increased significantly. People have also adapted to more advanced use of telemedicine and preventative medicine.
There is currently a significant gap in the market that needs to be addressed with innovative and customized products. Efforts are underway to introduce comprehensive health insurance covering not only outpatient care but also preventive care and wellness.
The industry expects large consumer technology platforms to emerge as distribution channels for health insurance. As the need and value of health insurance continue to grow, new channels like these will help improve the customer experience and enable insurers to design curated and personalized products.
Technology and digital media are increasingly being used to create new touchpoints and opportunities for customer acquisition and customer lifecycle management. Several data-driven innovations and digital tools, such as machine learning, blockchain, and insurtech, are also helping the health insurance sector to enhance administrative activities and capabilities such as underwriting, claims processing, and customer query processing, helping customers and health insurers.
What are the factors driving the growth of health insurance?
Despite the country’s prolonged lockdown, the health sector surged 34.2% in July 2022 YTD (YTD) compared to 9.9% YTD in July 2021, as suggested by Care retings Did. One of the main drivers of this growth is increasing consumer awareness and sensitivity to having a protection plan.
India’s insurance penetration and density has grown over the last two decades, but it still falls short of global standards. About 25% of the population is covered, so the health insurance market is still in its early stages. There is tremendous scope for expanding health insurance and reaching more people.
30% of the population does not have health insurance and is called the ‘Missing Middle’. This section mainly consists of the rural self-employed (agricultural and non-agricultural) informal sector and urban diversified employment (informal, semi-formal and formal).
The industry is taking strict measures to increase insurance penetration, and with increasing awareness, health insurance is on the rise.
What makes health insurance a priority?
Healthcare inflation in our country can vary by 10% to 15% from city to city. This has always been the case, but growing awareness of the costs associated with healthcare is important. This has always been the case, but the pandemic has made people more aware of it. rice field. Rising medical costs have reaffirmed the need for health insurance.
The health insurance segment is of increasing strategic importance to both the industry and SBI Insurance. This segment, which currently accounts for the largest share of the total, requires a focused approach, a reorganization of internal resources, and a restructuring of the health insurance value chain.
We have carved out the health sector to better meet the needs of our customers to facilitate better quality control, improved service levels, and data analytics-driven pricing and recommendations. As part of Health Vertical, retail health agency It will focus primarily on creating sales force in Tier 2, 3 and 4 cities, leveraging SBI’s brand equity USP. The initiative was launched last year and operations are in transition to realize the intended benefits. We have also set up a dedicated in-house claim based in Pune to create a wide hospital of over 11,000 hospitals across the country to provide our existing and prospective clients with maximum cashless facilities and seamless service.
Industry collaboration to expand the spread of health insurance
We are open to synergistic collaborations to expand and improve our services and recently partnered with Apollo 247 to provide wellness services to our health insurance customers. Apart from that, we are looking for new insurtech players to improve our services as well as internal processes to improve our service levels.
