The Hindu Business Line : Standalone health insurer, high risk fund pool proposed

Hyderabad, Dec 8 The Committee on Health Insurance for Senior Citizens set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has recommended that standalone health insurance companies should be promoted by the regulator.

A separate regulatory framework may be designed to ensure the viability of such companies and subsidiary health insurers by adopting a risk-based capital approach to attract more players, the committee said in its report hosted on the website of IRDA.

The panel recommended that accounts of non-life companies engaged in health insurance business should make a distinct provision to indicate health insurance as a separate class of business in the revenue accounts as against the practice of subsuming them under ‘miscellaneous’ head.

Broader definition

The investment in health infrastructure should be included in the definition of infrastructure and social sector. The present investment regulations of IRDA mandate that not less than 10 per cent of investment assets should be in the infrastructure and social sector.

Complete cover

The regulator should also mandate the that all senior citizens should have access to health insurance regardless of age, health condition or claim history, except in cases where the persons is diagnosed with selected terminal or incurable illness at the time of the first entry, the panel suggested.

Health insurance pool

To facilitate this, an health insurance pool should be created with active Government funding as well as other stake-holders to take over high-risk cases— for example, senior citizens above the age of 80 years or those who have risk-based loading of 40 per cent of beyond.

More obligations

Further, the obligation of insurers under the rural and social sectors could be expanded to include prescription of obligation for health insurance specifically, especially for the rural sector. The insurers could also be required to offer some products under Micro Insurance Regulations, it added.

The committee observed that though there are some products that are available for senior citizens, in practice, it is not easy for them to obtain a health insurance cover.

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