Page 12 - Insurance Times December 2019

Indian Overseas Bank in- NITI Aayog proposes mandatory Health insurance for all
troduces Health Care Plus NITI Aayog has recently proposed a compulsory Health Insurance keeping the
rising pollution by a complete transformation of India’s
Insurance policy health system in mind. NITI Aayog has also introduced
Indian Overseas Bank has launched basic standard benefits for all health insurance cov-
IOB Health erage all over the nation.
Care Insur- NITI Aayog in its report, “Health System for a New In-
ance Policy dia: Building Blocks”, focused on overcoming the challenges of fragmentation
through an across healthcare financing and service delivery that would help India optimize
online plat- both quality and access.
form all
over its branches to issue health in- “There are important health insurance and public funding efficiency and eq-
surance policy provided by Univer- uity reasons for introducing a standard benefits package as reference for all
sal Sompo General insurance Co. insurance coverage in India. Benefits package fragmentation occurs not only
Ltd. Indian Overseas Bank Health involuntary commercial health insurance (which traditionally does provide a
diverse set of health insurance products) but also among publicly-subsidized
Care Plus Policy (IOB HCP), a
Cobranded health insurance policy schemes and packages, resulting in publicly-funded coverage inequity,” NITI
is designed by Universal Sompo Aayog added.
General Insurance company for IOB The report said, “If central governments play an equalization role, it is very
customers with a sum Insured start- difficult to do so in the absence of a standard benefits package, which would
ing from Rs 50,000 to Rs 15 Lakhs. set the minimum level of services that a country wants all members of society
to have, as well as can afford and use to estimate costs and fund allocations."
The policy issuance will be made on
a real-time basis at the IOB Bank “In the absence of such standardized reference and gap identification, it is
branches to its customers with impossible to judge the gaps that the central government equalization and
which, self, spouse, dependent chil- policy facilitation roles need to target. A standard benefits package also plays
dren, dependent parents can be a substantial role in guiding the future development of commercial health in-
covered. IOB HCP is a Family Floater surance. It would ensure coverage of essential and insurable events under risk
policy where the premium is pooling arrangements,” it said.
charged as per the age of the
proposer with no medical checkup Health insurance for domestic workers to be introduced
upto 50 years of age.
by Bangalore Apartments’ Federation
O. N. Singh, Chairman, Universal Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF), a federation representing over one
Sompo General Insurance Co. Ltd lakh flats and three lakh apartment residents across
said, “We are extremely delighted to Bengaluru, will launch MADHURA – ‘Medical Aid for
offer our products to Indian Over-
Domestic Help Under Residential Apartments’. As part
seas Bank customers by harnessing of MADHURA, BAF will launch a group insurance
technology tools to minimize the scheme for all domestic workers. The scheme will cover
waiting period of issuing a policy to maids, cooks, drivers, plumbers, electricians etc who
bank customers. Very few Insurers work in apartment complexes but are not formally employed.
have real-time integration with
H A Nagaraja Rao, President of BAF, said, “Most domestic workers do not get
Bank’s Core system. This would be a
coverage under government schemes like Ayushman Bharat or Arogya
win-win situation for both Bank &
Insurance Company.” Karnataka as they may be above the poverty line or do not fall under the ‘eli-
gible households’ category as defined under National Food Security Act. Hence
Karnam Sekar, MD & CEO, Indian their health insurance needs to be covered through alternative mechanisms.”
Overseas Bank said, “The Bank’s
long relationship with Universal K Arun Kumar, Vice President of BAF, said, “Domestic workers are employed
Sompo resulted in offering various informally and hence do not get benefits like ESI or group insurance which are
available in formal employment. This typically leaves them exposed when a
innovative policies on real time ba-
disease hits a family member and they cannot afford the cost of
sis for IOB Customers.”
hospitalisation.”
12 The Insurance Times, December 2019