India’s first private sector stand-alone health insurance company, Star Health, managed to garner premium of Rs 2,008 crore in 2015-16, crossing the 2K mark for the first time. It also made pre-tax profit of Rs 120 crore, including an underwriting profit of about Rs 40 crore, according to the company’s Chairman and Managing Director, V Jagannathan.

The decade-old insurer is the only Indian insurance company to make an underwriting profit in health insurance, a segment known to bleed the insurer due to rampant fraudulent practices by hospitals. Jagannathan, an industry veteran and a former CMD of the public sector United India Insurance, has always said that the trick to make profits is to keep claims low by having a fleet of doctors to check-out every bill. Star Health has 350 doctors on its rolls, against the general industry practice of engaging ‘third party administrators’ to do the job.

Jagannathan said that Star Health was only a close second to the public sector insurer, New India Assurance, in the non-government, non-corporate health insurance segment. Typically, this ‘market segment’ is where insurance companies make profits.

For the current year, Star Health aims to pick up premium of Rs 2,750 crore, which it would achieve by increasing its presence in northern states. It is also raising Rs 180 crore from a private equity fund. Jagannathan did not wish to name the fund, but said the deal would be consummated this week.

“We don’t need the money,” he said, adding that the company was getting the additional equity to maintain the statutory ‘solvency margins’.

On Saturday, Star Health launched a policy that extends health insurance coverage to autistic children. Speaking at the launch function, well-known oncologist, Dr V Shantha, noted that autistic children were more susceptible to other ailments and as such, providing insurance coverage to them was a fine social service.

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