Most non-life insurance products have seen an increase in their pricing in the Q3 & Q4 of 2009. And according to a survey by Marsh, the rates are expected to move further northwards.
The report analysed 10 major commercial insurance lines across 42 countries, including India.

According to the report:
- Premium on property increased by up to 10 per cent during the second half as insurers ceased to offer high discounts.
- Premiums on healthcare and casualty increased by up to 10-20 per cent as it became unsustainable for players to discount it. Prior to detariffing, group mediclaim policies were doled out as freebies with fire and engineering policies.
- Premium on professional indemnity and directors’ and officers’ liability (D&O) increased by up to 10 per cent and up to 20 per cent respectively.

With Apollo DKV's Maxima and ICICI Lombard’s Health Advantage Plus have now started covering OPD expenses within their coverage heads.

This is being seen by many in the industry as a gradual shift towards inclusion of this most-common cost head in medical bills of patients.
OPD charges refers to the cost incurred by a policy holder where in the covered individual is NOT admitted. Typically most Health Insurance policies in the country have covered hospitalisation & related expenses & the OPD charges were borne by the policyholder on her own.

Most companies have feared large scale misuse when it comes to OPD charges. Hence even these plans come with some riders, mainly
1. The OPD claim can be done only once in the whole year
2. The Claim cannot be done within 90 days of policy commencement
3. There is a pre-defined cap on the OPD amount, that one can claim in such policies.

Hence we recommend that if you intend to go in for any of these polcies, do understand the OPD coverage (& the riders therein very clearly)

The Insurance regulator (IRDA) has proposed a new consolidated Life & Health cover for the poor families in India.
The plan if approved would cover a total of 6 crore families with
- Rs 1.5 lakh of Life cover
- Rs 1 Lakh of medical cover
- annual premium cost of Rs 1500- half of which paid by centre, rest shared by state & the beneficiary family

Since the underwriting insurance provider will also get a profit, the scheme is being touted as commercially viable in the long run.
Also from an administrative perspective, it would be easier to roll out a single mass scheme rather than managing the multiple schemes that are currently running parallely.

The scheme is estimated to have a total outflow of Rs 12000 Crore.

One should start investing in a health insurance policy as soon as you start earning. Since health insurance has just picked up in recent years, many of our senior citizens would not have availed of this policy when they were young. Insurance Companies have now come out with medical policies for the senior citizens as well.

But, these exclusive mediclaim covers for senior citizens are a little different than the ones for the younger age group. If it is a fresh policy or renewal the cost is very high. This is cause of the risk factor is higher for senior citizens, hence the premium amounts are high.

The clauses in these policies also differ. One should look out for a clause on co-payment in your policy document, which may differ from one company to another.

Also sub-limits are very common in the policies. Most of these policies cap the room rent at 1% of sum insured a day and the cost of ICU at 2% of the sum assured. The overall limit is capped at 25% of the sum insured for an illness or injury.

Health insurance is a contract between you and the insurers. It is intended to protect you and your dependents against any financial constraints that may take place because of a medical emergency. You should keep in mind some aspects while purchasing for an insurance cover.

Medical costs in India are on the rise. Admitting yourself into a decent hospital in a semi-private room, if not private, will cost you at the very least Rs 1,000 with all the medicines, food, rent of the room, etc. If there are operating costs, then the bill automatically quadruples itself (more actually).It's easy to escape a health insurance cover when you're in your twenties. But if an unexpected illness gets you it will eat into your savings.
The point being, it is important to insure your health or as it is popularly known in India, medical insurance.

Health insurance sector is fast growing in India and with it there are various healthcare insurance products being launched in India.Healthcare costs are rising and growing awareness about the importance of preventive care has led to growing demand in health insurance products.

Let us take a look at the Year on Year growth of Indian Insurance Market and its quite evident. In FY03, the health insurance market stood at Rs 1,160 crore, in FY08 it had crossed Rs 5,000 crore. That’s a growth of 60% in a years time.Despite the growth there is still a large need for health insurance in India. As many as 75% people in India are without employer provided coverage and over 85% people in India are not insured at all.

Oriental Insurance Company has launched a comprehensive health cover for family,Happy Family Floaters Policy.A policy to protect one and all against escalating medical costs. The poilcy is available in two options gold and silver plan, the sum insured varies in between Rs 1-10 lakh.

The main features of the product, is to provide extensive cover for medical expenses of illnesses and accidents requiring in-patient hospitalisation. The policy also offers an optional cover for personal accidents worldwide, besides an add-on benefit of life hardship survival for certain critical diseases.

Leading a healthy life is so important. To help and encourage people to lead a healthy life, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance has launched a 'Health Active' program, under which it would offer a range of services to its policy-holders.
"In a study done on around 5,000 people, we found that 70 per cent of young Indians are suffering from some or the other medical problem like hypertension or diabetes. They were either not aware of their health problem or they didn't pay attention to it," ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Head (Health Insurance) Binay Agarwala said here.

The Health insurance is not only restricted to general insurance players in the industry; the Life Insurers have also started launching plans related to Health Insurance. The latter have come up with stand alone health insurance policies & also with combined plans of Health Insurance & investments.

The basic question which arises now is that how do these two set of Health schemes differ.

Coverage amount:
The Non-Life Insurance Health schemes will compensate you for the actual amount incurred during hospitalization while the Life insurance Health schemes give you the lump sum amount specified in the policy irrespective of your actual spend

Term:

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance had launched a new health insurance product covering parents, in-laws, spouse and children all together in a single plan. This Medical Insurance product is called "Family Carefirst"

The Plan offers sum-assured(coverage amount) ranged from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakhs with cashless services in more than 2,000 network hospitals across the country. This unique hospitalisation plan gives you a 3-year health cover for your entire family and allows you to renew the policy after every 3 years to keep you covered till the age
of 74 years.

Eligibility
Entry Age Minimum: 18 years
Entry Age Maximum: 56 years for a new policy, 71 for a renewed policy

Govt owned general Insurance companies are losing market share and the Pvt players are gaining speed in terms of market share in general life insurance business.This happening due to free pricing policy in this sector where the private players are more aggressive then State owned players.

The slower growth among state-owned companies has resulted in ICICI Lombard displacing public sector Oriental Insurance to become the fourth-largest insurer in India.

The insurance regulatory authority- IRDA is looking at a proposal to make health cover affordable for all senior citizens. The proposal which is based on the recommendations of an expert panel - is based on the core assumption to allow Senior citizens to enter the Health insurance system even beyond the age of 65 yrs.

This will surely be a welcome change by the Senior Citizens as currently most Health Insurers do not renew their Health Insurance policies after the insured crosses the 65 yrs mark.

What are top most reasons to take Insurance ?

1.Fear of death and Financial implications for dependents-
If this is the reason that you are looking to buy your policy , please stick to it.Get a policy which only takes a premium to cover this risk.Death can be from natural reasons or can be by accident etc. Try to cover both reasons when you wanna insure yourself for this basic reason.

2.Fear of hospital/medical expenses from illness etc-
To get treatment done for any medical emergency they some times take your yearly income in few days.So most of the salaried middle class is making sure they have medical insurance.One should go for health insurance these days.Most health insurance companies offer cashless hospitalization these days which is a very useful component for salaried individuals in case of medical emergencies.Health insurance is basically a general life insurance product but now Life insurance companies also offers some products which covers basic health covers.

Health Insurance is required to ensure coverage for expenses incurred in possible medical treatment. Depending on the policy specifics this could cover- Consultation fees, Operating Charges, Medicine costs, Diagnostic Tests charges, Hospitalization charges etc

Given the increased cost of Medical Treatment, it becomes imperative that we have adequate Health Insurance cover.

Spend some time to understand the various products that are available and the specific features therein. This would help you identify the product best suited for your requirement.

Know the difference between health insurance from Life Insurers and General Insurers