MUMBAI, MARCH 2: You may soon be able to cover your medical expenses while visiting a doctor for outpatient treatment through your health insurance policy. Public sector general insurance companies are planning to join private sector insurers in launching policies offering cashless Outpatient Department (OPD) and worldwide covers (reimbursement of medical expenses overseas). “OPD consists of almost 60 per cent of overall medical spends in India, so we need to get into that space and offer reasonably priced products in a few months,” said G Srinivasan, Chairman and Managing Director of New India Assurance. The insurer is also planning to offer covers for treatment outside India, said Srinivasan. The four public sector insurers – New India Assurance, United India, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance – control 70 per cent of the health insurance market. Medical expenses Insurance in India typically covers medical expenses involving a minimum 24 hours hospitalisation. OPD, meanwhile, covers doctor consultation, diagnostic tests and medicines. Over the last two to three years, new private sector general insurance companies and standalone health insurance companies have been offering policies covering OPD. According to a recent report by ICICI Lombard, only two per cent of the health insurance products currently available cover OPD. For insurers, covering OPD is not an easy proposition as the ticket size of claims is small and frequent. “While there are difficulties in managing OPD, we need to take care of the loss experience to ensure that it does not become an unviable portfolio,” said Srinivasan. A senior official at United India Insurance said the insurer is also considering extending an OPD cover under cashless scheme in all retail policies. Currently, United India offers cashless OPD for only group policies and in some cases insurers extended this as an add-on offering in their main mediclaim policies on payment of additional premium. Health insurance The move to cover the OPD space will provide a wider portfolio for general insurers. Health insurance is one of the rapidly growing sectors for the industry growing 18.66 per cent to ₹13,975 crore in 2012-13 from ₹11,777 crore a year before. Health insurance industry in India is intensely competitive with 23 general insurance companies and five standalone health insurance companies. (This article was published on March 2, 2014)
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 08:29:22 +0000
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