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US-headquartered Aetna, a 160-year-old healthcare benefit company, on Thursday announced investment commitment of ₹100 crore for the Indian market over the next three years.
The company, through its fully-owned Indian arm, Indian Health Organisation, also launched a ‘unique’ product — Classic Family Consultation Membership — designed to meet day-to-day outpatient expenses.
The membership, priced at ₹5,880 for one year for a family of four, offers unlimited tele-consultation with doctors, 10 free doctor consultation vouchers that can be utilised at top hospitals/clinics and two free comprehensive health check-ups.
It also entails tax breaks under Section 80D of the Income Tax Act and discounts of 10-50 per cent on medicines, diagnosis, further treatment and consultation.
Describing India as a key strategic market for Aetna, Richard di Benedetto, President, Aetna International, said the company would focus on the “outpatient space” to make quality healthcare accessible to Indian people at the right price point.
Richard said Aetna would bring more innovative healthcare benefit to India in the coming months. It hopes to achieve break even on its Indian operations by December-end 2018.
Insurance solutions When asked if Aetna, which already offers insurance solutions in other markets, will bring insurance products to India, Richard replied in the negative.
“We don’t have an insurance plan for the Indian market. It’s not in the radar. It may come five years from now. Our immediate interest is healthcare services where we see opportunities for growth. Our play in India is going to be health services for now. We are not looking at insurance. We are not saying we will not do it (insurance). It (insurance) is not a priority now,” he told BusinessLine here. Manasije Mishra, Managing Director, Aetna India, said its latest product — Classic Family Consultation Membership — will be available across 151 high-quality partners — hospitals and clinics — in five major cities (Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata). By March-end, this offer will be extended to 25 cities, Mishra said.
For distribution of the latest product, Indian Health Organisation will adopt a multi-channel approach — offline as well as online. It will also be distributed through consumer finance companies and Internet aggregators besides direct channel, such as the company’s own Web site.
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