Telecom model can effort for health insurance
To penetrate rural markets, health insurance companies to introduce innovative products in different price ranges.
350 million in 1947, India has now the second largest population with over 1.21 billion people. But six decades after independence, access to care is still one of the biggest challenges in India, not just for Indians in rural areas, but even for those in urban areas.
This is mainly because health is unevenly distributed, the trained health workforce shortages are chronic and the availability and quality of medicines and diagnostic tools are still in doubt. Consequently, there is more than a million Indians a year, mostly women and children.
Worldwide, health insurance play a key role in improving access to health care. The provision of adequate health insurance to attract investment in the health sector, such as hospitals, laboratories, durable goods and supplies. In India, an innovative system designed public health insurance for BPL families – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) – attracts many entrepreneurs to build hospitals in outback rural poor of India.
RSBY however, less than 15 percent of Indians have some form of health insurance, primarily in government-sponsored plans. Only 2.2 per cent private health insurance. Of this amount, health insurance in rural areas is less than 10 percent. With massively on the penetration, the Indian sector of health insurance is an excellent opportunity in the making should increase at a CAGR of 15 percent until 2015.
Penetrating Rural Areas:
By penetrating the rural markets, the insurance companies seeks inspiration from telcos. When venturing into rural markets, telecommunications companies face huge obstacles because the infrastructure does not exist in the late 1990s.
Undeterred, they first built the mobile networks in these regions. They also studied the needs of their customers and customized products for rural markets, which is a lot of cheap mobile phones with useful features and the introduction of competitive prices that even the rural poor could afford .
Instead of waiting for customers to their portals, and letting the market is developing for decades, went to the front door of customers’ products with irresistible prices. Today, farmers, even in bare feet and brandishing cellular Fakir! Insurance companies could emulate the success of Telecom to penetrate the countryside.
For starters, insurers must understand the needs and expectations of customers and optimize the services in many areas including cost control, customer service, claims management, pricing and product innovation, among others. In fact, product innovation could play a leadership role in promoting the penetration. Second, insurers concentrate only on the patient (hospital) policies, while the actual business of health coverage is in an outpatient setting.
The products should be included in preventive care such as routine inspections and regular tests, including eye and dental care. And ‘the only hospital, however, that a claim should be tight. The price is another key factor that makes Mars, or measures to penetrate the rural market. Since most of the Indians in possession of limited purchasing power, insurance companies should introduce innovative products ranging from price points for well-differentiated offers – just like the phone companies did.
Some public and private insurance companies have already introduced innovative products commissions as low as RE1 and RS10 day a month, catering to individuals and insurance needs.
Pre-Existing:
One of the controversial issues for potential buyers of health insurance with pre-existing condition clause.
It is a condition that the customer had before purchasing policy, whether it was conscious or not, and have not been notified to the insurer. In India, customers may have diabetes or high blood pressure without knowing it. If the client is hospitalized with the disease, the insurer may reject the application on the principle of “preexisting conditions”, leaving outraged. One solution for all insurers to cover pre-existing conditions by charging additional premiums, as some insurers do not. Since it was not, IRDA could solve the problem by prescribing standard rules for insurers.
Another nightmare for major clients is the question of exclusions, with many diseases – including critics – do not apply to you. More often, customers are not aware of exclusion, since they are typically hidden in the fine print. Insurers must ensure that the exclusions are small and clients are informed in advance about it in clear terms, instead of hidden in the fine print.
What can the Growth Propeller:
Controversial phrases from each other, a number of factors could push the growth of health insurance if the insurance companies take advantage of them. These are: the growing interest in people health insurance, soaring health care costs over the past decade, low insurance penetration, rising incomes and high savings, increasing urbanization and a growing rate of endemic diseases and mm lifestyle. Since July 1, 2011, Insurance Portability is another factor that could push the growth of existing customers to move from the insurer of their choice.
With the doubling of health spending in a decade, the insurance is compulsory for all sectors of society. The government should encourage all efforts to provide better access to health care. Abolish the tax on health insurance or increased tax exemption limits to control costs of treatment might be a good start. The government must abandon its myopic view of the loss of revenue and focus on the big picture. Eliminate the tax on health care will improve the accessibility and affordability of health care, ensure better health and higher Treasury yields increased productivity of employees.
Treasury digit loss for the health tax will be well rewarded by five-digit increases in productivity and production in all sectors. Ultimately, India will see a marked improvement in access to health care for all citizens.
Source: [BusinessLine]
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