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.

Rural insurance will see a fresh fillip with the introduction of a new policy which does away with the manadatory health checks for Life Insurance.

The initiative by Department of Posts will launch a Micro Life Insurance policy - no more require the insurees to disclose their present health condition or diseases at the time of buying the policy. This is clearly aimed at expanding the Life Insurance coverage in rural India.

The proposed insurance scheme, which can be availed by economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society and particularly women, will provide a risk cover up to Rs 25,000.

Riders:- When you avail of a simple life insurance policy you can add a rider to it. Which means you can get additional benefits attached to your policy. Riders are the additional benefits that you may buy and add to your policy .A rider gives you the benefit of increasing your risk cover in case of any certain events happening. For example, if one has opted for an Accident Death Benefit rider and the policyholder dies in an accident then the beneficiaries can get upto a maximum of twice the sum assured.

Nowadays insurance companies have introduced plans for every kind of need. They have products available to protect your home, life, health, car and more. One has various options to choose from.
But one has to be careful and make sure you choose the right policy for yourself. The policy which people normally invest are the basic ones like health , to save tax and make savings for the future like ULIP’s ,home and car.These policies benefits and are worth investing in.

The various kind of polices are:-

We sometimes invest in insurance policies without knowing the benefits of the policy. There are various policies like children's education plans, health insurance policies, life insurance plans with huge death benefits, and accident insurance covers. We do not look at the insurance coverage we are receiving; at times we buy a policy only for an investment or tax saving purpose under section 80C.

There are some points to be considered while purchasing an insurance policy:

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.

Your Insurance Policy can help you get a tax rebate. Although most of us may not be insured or not even be aware of this benefit. Let us see how the various insurance policy can help us with a tax break

HEALTH INSURANCE
A premium up to Rs 15,000 on a medical insurance policy,you will get rebate from tax under section 80D of the Income Tax Act. And if you pay a premium for an insurance cover for your dependant parents you get an additional tax benefit of up to Rs.15, 000.If parents are senior citizens then the cap increases to Rs20,000.Hence a maximum tax benefit from a health insurance policy for your family is Rs30,000 or Rs35,000 depending on the age of your dependent parents

MEDICAL EXPENSES

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.

With March approaching, tax payers will have to ensure they buy adequate insurance to claim benefits under Section 80C and 80D. But it does not necessarily mean that the entire limit should be used up, just to take tax advantage.Medical insurance premiums up to Rs 15,000 come under Section 80D. And life insurance premiums up to Rs l00,000 get benefits under Section 80C.

A proper mix of cover that gets tax advantage is essential to ensure that there is adequate insurance. But first, you need to identify the needs. And they will keep on changing, according to your age, dependents and other factors. Here's some help:

Between 25 and 35 years: A person who is just starting his career may not have many dependents. So, often, there is no need to have a really big life insurance cover.

ICICI LOMBARD

HEALTH INSURANCE

Family Floater Health Plan

Introduction:-
Enjoy the benefits of covering your entire family under one policy. ICICI Lombard's Family Floater policy takes care of the medical expenses during sudden illness, surgeries, and accidents. You also avail of tax benefits under section 80 D.

Policy Coverage:-
1. Incurred as an inpatient during hospitalisation for more than 24 hours, including room charges, doctor/
surgeon's fee, medicines, etc.
2. 30 days prior to hospitalisation.
3. 60 days post hospitalisation.
4. Day Care expenses incurred on advanced technological surgeries and procedures like Dialysis,

Health insurance, is just not an insurance cover but also provides valuable service and savings to many people. Though there are literally thousands of variations in the types and quality of insurance offered, the basic principle stays the same; an individual or company pays a monthly premium so that in the event of a health care need, the insurance company will pay all or part of the health care costs.

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.

Aviva Health Plus

All of us know that 'health is wealth' and all of us should try our best to remain in the pink. But sickness strikes and compels us to visit a doctor/hospital. The physical sickness is usually compounded by financial worries. On the other hand, a Mediclaim policy allows you to not worry about finances. This is a plan that pays for your medical expenses. Health insurance will protect you and your dependents against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency. Basically, in Mediclaim, you pay a premium and in turn the insurer will commit to pay a predetermined sum of money to meet the claims.

According to a study, In the industry of General Insurance, Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Company has become the fastest player..

The company has posted GWP(Gross Written Premium) of Rs 526 Crores for the period of April-December 2008,

The Company has surpassed previous year's (2007-08) GWP of Rs. 522 crore within 9 months of this year. In a statement on Friday, the company said it has posted a premium growth of 36 % (YTD), the highest in the industry.

Its market share has increased from 1.85% in March 2008 to 2.31% in November 2008.
Chola MS managing director S S Gopalarathnam said, this quarter's result is a testimony to its resilience.

The first non-life insurance company to set up shop in India was the Triton Insurance Company of Calcutta.

1. In 1907, the Indian Mercantile Insurance ltd was the first Indian Company that started its operation.
2. The New India Assurance Company was incorporated in 1919.
3. In 1972, the non-life insurance business in India was nationalized with effect from 1st January 1973.

General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) was formed as a single holding company with four sub Companies:
1. The National Insurance Co. Ltd
2. The Oriental insurance Co. Ltd
3. The United India Insurance Co. Ltd
4. The New India Assurance Co. Ltd

List of General Insurance Companies in India & there websites

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.bajajallianz.com)
ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.icicilombard.com)
IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.itgi.co.in)
National Insurance Co.Ltd. (www.nationalinsuranceindia.com)
The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. (www.niacl.com)
The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.orientalinsurance.nic.in)
Reliance General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.reliancegeneral.co.in)
Royal Sundaram Alliance Insurance Co. Ltd. ( www.royalsundaram.in)
Tata-AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.tata-aiggeneral.com)
United India Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.uiic.co.in)
Cholamandalam MS General Insurance Co. Ltd. (www.cholainsurance.com)

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.

SBI Life Insurance has launched its first Group Health Insurance Plan for State Bank customers called the Criti9. The name of the PLan itself suggests that it offers coverage for 9 major Critical diseases heart-attack, cancer, stroke, coronary artery bypass surgery, kidney failure, major organ transplant, multiple sclerosis and heart valve surgery.

The plan has the following eligibility criteria:
Age: The minimum & the maximum entry age for the account holders should be 18 & 55 years respectively.
Maturity Age: The Maturity age of the Plan is 65 years, the customers can renew the policy till the age of 65
Sum Assured: The Minimum & the maximum coverage amount is Rs. 25,000 & 5 lakh respectively.

K & R Cover has been prevalent in western countries but now lately there is seen an increase in the demand in India for this cover. The General Insurance players who are offering a policy of the same nature are ICICI Lombard, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, National Insurance and Tata AIG General Insurance.

Coverage:
1. Coverage for Kidnapping
2. Ransom Payment
3. Loss of Income
4. Interest on Bank loans
5. Medical Care Cover

In case of Kidnapping the insurance companies gives benefits to the insured through an Expert Crises Management Team in the hostage situations to get the minimum losses to the kidnapped. The team is trained to negotiate with the kidnappers & to keep the victim alive which is of supreme importance

The Travel Insurance is an insurance against unforseen events which may occur during your journey to a foreign land. The Insurance Companies will cover you against medical contigencies, accidents, loss of passport, delay or loss of baggage, missed flights, trip delay or cancellation & other financial emergencies, it has now come up with insurannce covering hijacking.

Coverage of Medical Insurance abroad
When taking a Travel Policy, one should know that there is a special policy called International Medical Insurance which covers the insured against emergency & non-emergency medical coverage.

Types of trips:
Single Trip: One should opt for Single Trip Travel insurance when the traveler tarvels once in a year.

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:

Royal Sundaram Insurance has launched Health Shield Online and Travel Shield Online, two online insurance packages for the Indian consumer.These plans can be bought directly by loging in there website.

These plans are additions to two or three plans which already exist .Royal Sundaram has an aggressive internet strategy and wants Internet as an active tool for the product distribution.

the renewals of policies can also be done online.The policy documnets are sent across to the customer on his email as attachments.

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.

General Insurance council in a move to bring cheer to health insurance policyholders, are finalising the contours of a new product that will have a common minimum standard cover and will be renewable and portable across companies.
This will mean the insurance companies will not be refuse renewals on grounds of adverse claims

Similarly, all benefits will continue to be available to an insured person even if he or she switches to a new company.In addition, cumulative bonus and discounts will also be available after the change.

Insurers will approach the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority for approval of the new product that will come with all these features later this month in August.

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.

In India nearly 5.7 million people are infected with HIV virus & there is already a lot of social stigma attached to it. For the first time, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)-infected patients in India are getting coverage by the Chennai-based Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd. This policy is launched under a group Insurance cover for the HIV-hit. The compensation becomes payable if an HIV patient is confirmed to be carrying AIDS

Eligibility of the Plan
- The policy will have to be proposed by governmental agencies, NGOs, societies or other registered bodies serving the cause of persons infected with HIV.
- The HIV Care Policy can be issued to a group of persons already infected with HIV.

Just read an article in the latest issue of Outlook titled "The Vanishing Middle"- which went on to talk about how intermediaries are being threatened with shrinking margins and new technology.
It covered three basic sectors:
- DSAs in banking sector
- TPAs in General Insurance
- Travel Agents

With around 5000 people, TPAs are probably the smallest of the lot (the article puts the DSA number at 35,000 and travel agents at 150,000). But interestingly all these 5000 are employed by 23 odd TPAs who currently have the IRDA license.

The various arguments in favor of a possible demise of this category of players were:

- ICICI Prudential offers Diabetes Care, Diabetes Care Plus, Diabetes Assure
-

TPAs are the engine of the Indian Health Insurance industry and there will be many a times when you would want to find more details about your TPA. We have consolidated one for your quick reference.

- Grand Healthcare Services India Private Limited
Mr Bibhutosh Chattopadhyay
Chief Administrative Officer
45A Hindustan Park,] P.S.: Garighat Kolkata 700 029 West Bengal
Tel: 033- 2464 4837
Mobile number: 9830063492
Toll Free number 1600 345 3317
Fax Number 033-2476 7865
E-mail- grandhealthcare@rediffmail.com

- Medicare TPA Services (I) Pvt. Ltd.
Ms. M. Maharana Chief Administrative Officer,
Flat No 10, Paul Mansions , 6, Bishop Lefroy Road, Kolkata - 700 020.

Third Party Administrators (TPAs)

TPAs are the essential pivot of the Indian Health Insurance Industry. A TPA license can be granted to any company registered under the Companies Act 1956. IRDA, which licenses and regulates these TPAs, has specified stiff entry norms some of which include a minimum capital requirement of 1 Crore, capping the foreign equity at 26% etc. License is usually granted for a period of 3 years.

TPA is expected to
- maintain databases of policy holders
- issue them identity cards with unique identification numbers
- handle all the post policy issues including claim settlements.
- run a 24-hour toll-free number, which can be accessed from anywhere in the country.

Health and Motor Insurance are two segments which grew more than 50% in the last fiscal year. These two segments are where the growth was for all Non life insurance companies.The growth in Health was 55% where as in Motor Insurance it was 50%.

Among the companies New India Insurance was leader in Health Insurance with 24.3% market share wherre as Icici was second with 17% market share.

So with the end of 2008 the dynamics of Industry has changed to
Health and Motor Insurance. With the fall of Fire(property) insurance Industry is trying to get aggresive in the above two segments.

When BimaDeals was launched in mid 2007, the online sourcing market for Insurance was very nascent. Internet spends were restricted to campaigns on prominent portals and search engines . This was probably the only online model being leveraged by the Insurance Providers. And in those days, the market for online comparison was almost completely unheard of.

There were a few players who had just launched online comparison and shopping- riding on their broking background.But nothing that would assist Insurance Providers in their current model of sales through telecalling & FOS.

Welcome to BimaDeals- your online partner in Life & Health Insurance. Through our various initiatives we aim to build a virtual community of Insurance Professionals in India. A community which is vibrant and discusses not only the current challenges but also the huge spectrum of opportunities that the Insurance sector provides.

Past editions of Insurer's Circle- our Monthly newsletter:
- July 08: e Sourcing for Insurance comes of age in India
- Sep 08: What Customers Want?

Discuss and share your views:

BimaDeals has successfully launched & tested a voice-based channel for Health Insurance, where customers are re-directed to an inbound call center of the Insurance Provider.
This channel has provided customers with the BimaDeals promise of comparison on a channel that they are really comfortable with- VOICE.

How it works: Customers fill up a short online form, a quick filtering is done and a list of matching Insurance providers is generated. The customer is then called by an IVR and given the 3-4 options on the calling menu. E.g. If she is eligible for Bajaj Allianz and TATA AIG, she would get a call which says "Welcome to Bima Deals- to speak to Bajaj Allianz press 1, to speak to TATA AIG press 2...."

There was a time when Indian consumers didnt have much options to choose from- while buying Insurance products. The situation was particularly severe in case of Life Insurance as there was just one company- LIC.

With multiple Insurers now operating in both Life and Non-Life insurance sectors, the customers have a clear option to pick and choose not only the plan(s) but also the insurer.

One can obviously not compare (meaningfully) all plans from all companies- but you should remember to get alteast 3-4 quotes for your specific Insurance requirement.

Choose your company basis:
- Whether they have the specific insurance product you are looking at
- What is the reputation of the company in terms of claim settlement,servicing (reminders/alerts etc).

Before you decide on with your Health Insurance cover, you must take care of the following parameters that will guide you to select your sum assured wisely.

Age: An individual at a young age is not much prone to major diseases therefore one can go for a lower cover at this stage. You must surely take a separate Personal Accident policy in your cover or get a rider of Personal Accident added to your Health Insurance Policy.

Stand-alone Health Insurance Companies are those who have the sole objective of promoting the health insurance business in India.

Currently there are two such Companies
1)Star Health Insurance
Star Health and Allied Insurance Co. is a joint venture between Oman Insurance Company, ETA Ascon Group and a host of Insurance veterans from India. They offer a wide range of services and related products in Health Insurance segment at affordable prices.

2)Apollo-DKV Insurance
Apollo-DKV Insurance is a joint venture between Apollo Hospitals and the European market leader Group DKV; a world leader in the field of health insurance.

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance

Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Limited is a joint venture between Bajaj Auto Limited and Allianz SE. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance received IRDA certificate of Registration on May 2nd, 2001 to conduct General Insurance business (including Health Insurance business) in India. The Company has an authorized and paid up capital of Rs 110 crores. Bajaj Auto holds 74% and the remaining 26% is held by Allianz, SE.

ICICI Lombard General Insurance

Read this interesting snippet in the latest edition of BusinessWorld- which had a special section on Insurance.

Myths in Insurance

- Insurance is an investment: Most of us look at Insurance as a means of saving tax or making handsome returns on the money back policies.

- Life Insurance Cover is sufficient: LICs deep penetration has ensured awareness about life cover, but very low focus is given to protecting life-time assets like home, jewellery etc

- Healthy People do not need insurance: It makes sense to look at a Health Insurance policy even if one is healthy coz:
Premium cover is lower for the young and healthy and even expenses for minor ailments are usually covered in the Health Insurance plans.

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