The public-sector New India Assurance Company is now focusing on development of more and more low cost health insurance products catering to mass coverage in niche segments of society for improving low insurance penetration, according to firm’s Chief Manager Pradeep Khandekar.
Lack of awareness
“Presently, the health insurance penetration in the country is much below 10 per cent. Low patronage is due to lack of awareness on the need for insurance coverage and many think that the products are not affordable.”
“In this scenario, we recently came out with a few low premium products and also in the process of churning out a few more products catering to wide section of people in a particular industrial or economic segment,” Mr. Khandekar told The Hindu.
He was speaking on the sidelines of distributing the first set of insurance policy certificates under a new scheme which the New India Assurance announced recently for ‘Tirupur cluster garment workers’.
The ‘Mediplus 365’, developed for Tirupur garment workers at the rate of ₹1 a day as premium for 365 days providing medical and accident coverages, was one among those low cost products designed by the New India Assurance.
Enrolment
T. R. Ramanathan, a chartered accountant who coordinates the implementation of Mediplus 365 in Tirupur cluster, said already 5,000 workers got enrolled in the ‘Mediplus 365’.
Mr. Khandekar added that similar segment specific products such as ‘Jyothirgamaya’ meant for employees in the cooperative baking sector in Gujarat and ‘Swavalamban’, another one for differently abled, too had evoked good response.
Target
“We are planning to replicate products such as ‘Mediplus 365’ in other industrial sectors such as cement, pharmaceuticals and a few more,” he said adding that his firm had set an overall target of ₹ 25,000 crore from premium revenue (all sectors covering health and motor) during this fiscal.
