The Covid pandemic brought with it greater awareness regarding the need for health insurance boosting business for such insurers in 2022 even as they battled higher claims, technological disruptions and regulatory changes.

Even as pandemic-related claims subsided in the second half of the year, health insurers continued to witness elevated claims due to Covid -related health issues, deferred surgeries and delayed chronic treatments.

Health covers

On the other hand, health insurance sector also saw a greater technological adoption with the use of telemedicine and electronic health records. On the regulatory front, reforms pertained to enhancing access to health insurance, inclusion of transgender people, and the addition of mental illness and alternate therapies to health covers.

“The last two years fostered newer, innovative health insurance offerings and products that included telemedicine, diagnostics, etc. Customers also displayed a newfound interest in health insurance, which resulted in higher premium collections as well,” said Satish Gidugu, CEO at Medi Assist.

Digitisation

With greater emphasis on digitisation, advent of the Bima Sugam platform and shift in IRDAI’s approach to more principle-based regulations, the focus of the health insurance industry going into 2023 is on improving the ease of doing business and product innovation.  

Some of the initiatives such as ‘use and file’ will provide greater flexibility and encourage innovation to introduce customised products for specific customer segments, said Krishnan Ramachandran, MD and CEO of Niva Bupa Health Insurance, adding it will also help address the ever-evolving health needs of customers.

‘Insurance for All’

The regulatory and government push on ‘Insurance for All’ through means such as bringing primary care under the fold of insurance, and expectations of life insurers being allowed to sell indemnity-based health products is expected to enhance growth opportunities for the sector, industry participants said.

Tier-2 and tier-3 cities are investing more in healthcare, and there is also an increase in private sector investment, with the government encouraging expansion of private hospitals and clinics, said Aniruddha Sen, Co-founder at Kenko Health. However, challenges such as a shortage of healthcare professionals, high medical costs, and inadequate infrastructure continue to persist.

Others highlighted the need for increased co-ordination between insurers and healthcare providers and development of the overall health ecosystem for health insurance to grow in 2023.

“Focus on population health, funding, infrastructure building in terms of facilities including primary care, PPP, and digital capabilities including ABHA ID are absolutely critical to creating an enabling environment for the sector,” said Mayank Bathwal, CEO, Aditya Birla Health Insurance.

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