Page 18 - The Insurance Times May 2021

International News

World Bank approves USD healthcare personnel by strengthening insurance policies. In addition, there is
their planning and management an increasing awareness of
32 million project to capabilities along with building their independent personal accident cover
improve health services in clinical skills and competencies. mainly due to limited benefits offered

Mizoram Junaid Ahmad, World Bank Country under group policies.
Director in India, stated, "This project Anjuli Shrivastav, Insurance Analyst at
The World Bank Board of Executive
Directors has recently approved a USD will support the state government's GlobalData, comments: “The standard
32 million project to improve quality of efforts to deliver quality healthcare for features and policy wordings offered
health services and management the poor and vulnerable and those under ‘Saral Suraksa Bima’ product will
capacity in Mizoram, a world bank located in remote areas." make it easier for buyers to choose
statement said recently. standalone personal accident insurance
Personal accident insurance from a wide variety of products
According to the statement, the available in the market. Uniformity
project titled "Mizoram Health market in India to benefit and greater transparency in policy
Systems Strengthening Project" is contracts will improve the uptake of
expected to strengthen the from policy standardization standalone personal accident insurance
governance and the management The Insurance Regulatory and
structure of the Mizoram Health Development Authority of India (IRDAI) product and help increase
department and its subsidiaries. It will has mandated all general and health penetration.”
improve the quality and coverage of insurers in the country to offer As per the new guidelines, standard
services delivered by the state standard personal accident insurance personal accident product will come
government health systems, and invest ‘Saral Suraksha Bima’ from 1 April with one year tenure and cover death
in a comprehensive quality assurance 2021. This product with standard and disability. Sum insured will be in
programme which would enable coverage and policy wordings will multiples of INR50,000 with a minimum
quality certification of health facilities. simplify product offering and promote insured amount of INR250,000 and a
the uptake of personal accident maximum of INR10m.
The key focus will be to strengthen the
effectiveness of the state health insurance policies in the country, says Insurers will be allowed to provide
insurance programme, build synergies GlobalData, a leading data and extra benefits and add optional covers
withthe Government of India's analytics company. such as temporary total disablement,
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna, and GlobalData estimates the personal hospitalization expenses in the same
thereby reduce financial barriers in accident insurance industry in India to product and determine premiums
accessing hospital services, prevent grow at a compound annual growth within the guidelines prescribed by the
catastrophic out of pocket expenditure rate (CAGR) of 6.1% during 2019-2024 IRDAI. This will encourage insurers to
for health by poor families and expand due to mandatory personal accident test new products and offer innovative
coverage. The project will also benefit cover for employees, motor and travel and customized products.

18 The Insurance Times, May 2021