Noting that the opportunity in health insurance is massive at an estimated ₹38,000 crore, which is projected to touch ₹1-lakh crore by 2021, Ravi Vishwanath, Executive Director and CEO, Reliance Health Insurance, said that the new standalone health insurer is focussed on creating a better customer experience. In an interview with BusinessLine, he said that with healthcare costs rising, health insurance is no longer a ‘push product’ but a ‘pull product’. Excerpts:

What are your plans for the company a s a standalone health insurer ?

We started operations on December 10. All our systems are running, and we already have one product in the market. Our key focus is to use technology disruptively to improve the customer experience in three ways – at the time of choosing the policy, buying it, and then during claims. We realised that customers feel health insurance companies should deliver a better experience on the lines of digital platforms such as Amazon, Uber, and Zomato. That’s the challenge we have taken up.

What kind of a sales and hospital network do you have?

Our sales process is completely digitalised, paperless and technology-driven. We are multi-channel and sales depends on what the customer wants – online, talking to someone on the phone, or face-to-face to buy a policy. We have a direct sales team and are building out an agency.

Currently, we have a direct sales team in 10 cities, and we will expand it significantly. We are building our agency network. In terms of these face-to-face channels, we will be in about 100 locations by the end of 2020. We have about 4,000 hospitals, and our goal is to have a quality hospital within 10 km of every customer. We don’t have a TPA; we do it completely in-house.

How will you differentiate from Reliance General Insurance?

The two companies have very distinct brands. We are a retail-focussed company, and our focus is to use technology to improve customer experience. There are many companies in the market and more are entering the market. This is good.

With medical costs rising, what would you consider as sufficient health insurance?

I always tell people that they should buy as much health insurance as they can afford. Healthcare costs are very hard to estimate.

The regulations are on the side of the customer, and there is guaranteed renewability regardless of the change in conditions. Also, the cost of medical treatment is rising by 15 per cent annually.

There are seven standalone health insurers, but health insurance penetration is very low. How do you make it attractive to people?

Heath insurance is now becoming a ‘pull product’ and people are actively buying it as they understand that the cost of medical insurance is rising. Also, more and more people are getting afflicted by hypertension and diabetes, and people understand it will have an impact on their health and finances. The old method of funding for healthcare through savings, and out of pocket, is becoming less attractive, and more people are realising that it makes sense to use a small amount of money to buy protection or insurance.

What kind of products will you focus on?

The first product that we have is focussed on the mass affluent market. We, over time, will go deeper in terms of demographics and income level, covering ultra HNIs to rural customers. We also want to go horizontal: today, we are covering hospitalisation, which is one part of health, but there are other expenses that people have, such as maternity, dental, outpatient, etc. We want to cover that, too. Within two years or so, we will have a very comprehensive product suite across income segments and healthcare expenses.

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