The Hindu Business Line : Apollo Group, DKV AG launch health insurance company

Tie-up: Dr Jochen Messemer, Member, Executive Board of Management, DKV AG and Director, Apollo DKV, with Ms Shobana Kamineni, Director, Apollo Hospitals Group, at a meet in the Capital on Wednesday. —

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Aug. 8 The Apollo Hospitals Group and DKV AG, Europe’s largest private health insurer and a Munich Re Group company, on Wednesday launched Apollo DVK Insurance Company — the second standalone health insurance company in the country.

While the Apollo Hospitals Group will hold 74 per cent stake, DKV AG will hold the remaining 26 per cent in the joint venture, which is expected to roll out products by the middle of September.

“The partners have invested Rs 108 crore in proportion to their shareholding in the venture, and the company hopes to offer cash-less products and services in over 4,000 hospitals across the country and on reimbursement basis to cover all hospitals,” Ms Shobana Kamineni, Director, Apollo Hospitals and Apollo DKV Health Insurance, said at a press conference here today.

The company would start with six regional offices in major metros and expand to 25 category A cities by the end of the second year. By 2010, it expects to have a presence in over 100 cities across the country.

“Apollo DKV initially proposes to offer a comprehensive range of products covering in-patient hospitalisation cover, critical illness cover, overseas travel and health cover and personal accident covers. The categories would include policies for both individuals and groups,” Dr Jochen Messemer, Director, Apollo DKV Health Insurance, said.

On the issue of pricing of the products, Ms Kamineni, said, “Pricing will be risk-adequate and at par with other players. Our products, however, will have much more value-added services built-in and will give true value for money.”

Dr Messemer said that the company was also looking at introducing products suited for out-patients. “The need of the hour is to have products to cater to the needs of the out-patients.

But for this, the crucial aspect is to have a reliable pricing mechanism and tie-up with hospitals, so it would take some time to finalise these issues and we expect to launch this product in the second phase,” he said.

The company is looking at long-term care plans and the products customised for various market segments and locations.

Apollo DKV expects to cover one million lives in the next two to three years and have a market share of 10-12 per cent in the next five to seven years. The company also expects its revenues to touch close to €300 million (Rs 1,722.9 crore) in this time period.

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