Page 47 - Insurance Times December 2019

LEGAL

Vehicle Insurance

In the absence of a comprehensive law, The Whistleblower Protection Act 2014, passed by both
houses of the Parliament and signed by the President in
here's how employee whistleblowers 2014, is yet to be operationalised and Indian companies
fare operate under the whistleblower norms incorporated in
Abhishek Mishra was driving from Udaipur to Gurgaon the Companies Act of 2013. Political activists have been
along with his parents in his father's new Maruti Ciaz, a protesting the delay in operationalising the Act, but its
car the senior Mishra had bought a month ago with his impact on the corporate world is not adequately debated.
retirement money. It was afternoon and this stretch of
National Highway 8 that connects Mumbai to Delhi via International insurance companies re-
Rajasthan, near Alwar, did not have road dividers.
duce premiums if you are a non-smoker
Out of the blue and in broad daylight, Mishra says, a long or have quit smoking
trailertruck driving on the opposite lane veered across and Health insurance holders are likely to get more wellness
hit his car head on. The airbags of the new Ciaz that deployed and preventive features, including Outpatient Department
in the nick of time saved the family. By the time Mishra had (OPD) consultations or treatments, pharmaceuticals, health
got back his bearings and started calling friends and family, check-ups and diagnostics, and discount vouchers in gyms
the trailer-truck had reversed back and driven off. and yoga centres in a policy package as part of the draft
guidelines being framed by the Insurance Regulatory and
Mishra's mother had to be hospitalised later in the day for Development Authority of India(IRDAI).
internal bleeding and his father needed multiple surgeries
on his face. The car took a month and half of repair work. Some insurance companies have reduced premiums and
Mishra, 37, believes this was no ordinary accident. He are offering discount coupons to clients who join gyms, quit
thinks this was an attempt on his life-a consequence of him smoking or live a healthy lifestyle, including doing regular
turning a whistleblower against his former employer in yoga. The idea is to reduce hospital admissions and sever-
Hyderabad back in 2016. ity of diseases.

This was also not the first rough experience for Mishra. He The services proposed include "outpatient consultations or
recalls how in 2016 in Hyderabad, some toughies had treatments, pharmaceuticals, health check-ups/diagnos-
turned up as he went about grocery shopping, and advised tics", including discounts on these services by redeemable
him to leave the city. Mishra's story might be an extreme vouchers. However, these open and direct incentives to
but aggressive pushback and career-damaging conse- policy holders will also need strict monitoring in order to
quences are not uncommon for whistleblowers. prevent unhealthy competition and misuse.

At a time when a parade of corporate scams has be- Health insurance works on the principle of statistics. The
smirched the reputation of India Inc, the experience of larger the number of people who get insured, the greater
those who have blown the whistle paint a gloomy picture. is the viability of any insurance set-up. Insurance premi-
Many scams might not have reached the scale they did had ums are also decided on the vital statistics of a country.
potential whistleblowers felt secure to come out. For instance, in a population of 1.3 crore in Delhi, 250

The Insurance Times, December 2019 47