The Hindu Business Line : Health insurance

This refers to the report, "LIC keen on entering health insurance", (Business Line, November 16): LIC's decision to take part in the health insurance sector will bring cheer to a large number of dissatisfied health insurance policyholders.

LIC will be able to better cater to the needs of society. The absence of a health regulator worsens the situation as the cost of treatment for various ailments is not standard.

As mentioned in the report, there is a lot of synergy between the health and the life sector. Though there are inherent risks in the health policies, LIC is better suited to meeting customer requirements. The only problem is that the health policy should be judiciously and competitively priced, to the benefit of the policyholders and that of the company. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) should put in place measures to popularise health insurance among the rural masses so that the entire population can be covered.

The present renewal system of the health policies should also be reviewed. Instead, the periodical premiums, like the life policies, should be considered so that health insurance gets extended to the remaining period of the insurer, rather than being confined to one year.

C. P. Velayudhan Nair

Kochi

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