Page 12 - Insurance Times May 2019

Health Insurance

News

HDFC Bank and Max Bupa Most states running Ayushman through the trust model

launch ‘AnyTimeHealth' A majority of states are implementing Ayushman Bharat, on trust model. While
only nine states have opted for a pure health
machines insurance model, seven states have chosen
HDFC Bank and Max Bupa, have mixed or hybrid models, in which a majority of
launched ‘‘AnyTimeHealth (ATH)’ insurers are from the public sector. 17 states
machines. have deployed the trust model. Part of the rea-
ATH machine son, say experts, is that most state governments
is a com- want to ensure an effective roll out, more so as
pletely auto- it is an election season, and avoid any bad press due to faulty implementation.
mated, tech- “It isn’t a surprise that few states have chosen the insurance model. RSBY used
nology - an insurance model and it had a number of problems, such as states choosing
based model which allows custom- the company that bid the lowest premium. But that gave the insurance com-
ers to avail health assessment and pany strong incentives to suppress utilization for insurance by failing to do
buy a policy instantly, without any marketing and denying claims," said Anup Malani, the principal investigator on
manual intervention. “Its simple in- the Indian Health Insurance Experiment, a 12,000 household study of health
terface offers a comprehensive insurance in Karnataka, which contributed to the Ayushman Bharat project in
awareness-to-purchase journey, India.
overcoming the procrastination
“The choice is up to the states. Most states have chosen the trust model. The
hurdle experienced by many Indi-
states that have opted for pure insurance model or mixed model, many of them
ans,” HDFC Bank and Max Bupa said.
are being served by the public insurance companies also," said Indu Bhushan,
“The bank’s customers will be able to chief executive officer (CEO), AB-PMJAY.
perform non-intrusive health assess-
ment covering ‘Body Mass Index’, According to the latest update with the National Health Authority (NHA), Andhra
‘Blood Pressure’, ‘Body Type & Fat Pradesh, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand, Bihar,
percentage, Muscle percentage, Bone Lakshadweep, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar, Madhya Pradesh, Chandigarh,
Mass, Body Temperature, Hydration Manipur, Karnataka, Sikkim, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have chosen the
trust model.
level and Blood Oxygen percentage’
and buy a policy instantly,” they said. Meghalaya (Reliance General Insurance), Mizoram (Bajaj Alliance), Nagaland
“Max Bupa ATH machines will ease (Apollo Munich), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (Oriental Health), Daman and Diu
health insurance buying - making the (Oriental Health), Jammu and Kashmir (Bajaj Alliance), Puducherry (Star Health),
entire process simpler and seamless Kerala (Reliance General Insurance), Punjab (IFFCO Tokio), are running the
for HDFC Bank customers throughout scheme on insurance mode. In contrast, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, West Bengal,
the country. In phase-1, 15-20 ATH Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have chosen the mixed
machines will be installed at HDFC model. While launching the scheme, the centre had provided the states with
Bank branches, across multiple cit- flexibility to choose the mode of implementation. “Most states normally start
ies,” HDFC and Max said. with insurance, move to mixed model and then to trust, as they gain experi-
ence and capacity.

12 The Insurance Times, May 2019