Retail health insurance grew 68%, higher than any other segment: Rakesh Jain, Reliance General Insurance
The average sum insured in retail health insurance has also gone up from Rs.4 lakh to Rs.7 lakh for Reliance General Insurance in the past two years, Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance tells ET Wealth.In the recent past, IRDAI has mandated several standardised products, such as those for mental health, surrogacy, etc. Are insurers facing any difficulty in implementing these? When it comes to product development, you need to have certain data to create a product and price it. Mental health plans or IVFs were never under the ambit of insurance, and the confidentiality of data meant that the insurance companies could not understand the risk and pricing.
That is the basic apprehension. I don’t think the insurers are saying they don’t want to do it. They are just saying that it should be done in a defined way.
The good part is that most of the things are now opening up and health insurance as a segment is growing. India has a large population, and if everybody comes under the fold of insurance, there will be a lot of resources available to cater to the exceptions, such as IVFs.Is there a need for a basic, standardised health insurance plan? Customers come with different psychologies. Some do not want to be cheated on coverage or price when they buy insurance for the first time, so they are happy to start with a standardised product.
The people who require customisation can keep exploring and buy a product of their choice. We should not debate between this and that, but cater to every type of customer psyche. Besides, there is a provision for portability in health insurance.
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