Page 6 - Insurance Times December 2019

Travel insurances evolve CM asks officials to bring all farmers under insurance

to cover new set of risks scheme
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has recently said the officials of Murshidabad
district to reach the target of 100% coverage of the
state government's crop insurance scheme for farm-
ers.
CM during an administrative meeting in the district,
stated that till now 2,36,000 people have been pro-
vided with cheques under the scheme and enrolled
under the 'Sashtya Bima Yojana'.
Keeping the way Indians travel in The chief minister further instructed the officials to provide 100per cent in-
mind, insurance companies are surance coverage to all farmers who are facing croplosses under the 'Krishak
customising policies with the aim to Bandhu' scheme and ensure that incase of any mishap, farmers are provided
meet their requirements. The insur- a sum of Rs 2 lakheach on producing proof of the loss.
ers are designing the covers keeping
in mind the traveller’s keenness in
order to participate in adventure Govt. to offer incentives to private hospitals to accel-
sports and go on cruises. erate insurance programme

A new set of risks, inclusive of trip In order to take part in the health insurance program “Modicare”, the govern-
cancellations due to travel adviso- ment will offer incentives to private hospitals, ac-
ries, medical evacuation from cruise cording to a senior government official.
vessels, risks associated with self- Launched last year, the "Modicare" program offers
drive cars and adventure sports such families health cover of up to 500,000 rupees
as snorkelling and marathons has ($7,000) a year for serious ailments - a significant
been covered ICICI Lombard’s new amount by Indian standards - but the scheme has
Voyager Group Travel Insurance. struggled to gain traction.
“We have taken travel insurance to India has so far registered about 20% of the eligible 500 million people, due
the next level and an Everest expe- to lack of public awareness of the scheme and low private sector participation,
dition can also be covered through said Indu Bhushan, CEO of the National Health Authority (NHA), which runs
an extension to the policy,” said the program. "There is a challenge of creating awareness and building the re-
Amitabh Jain, head of underwriting quired infrastructure. We need to work more on awareness ... give us time,"
and claims (health and motor) at Bhusan said.
ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
He further added that under the program, more than 6 million people have so
The insurer is presently selling the far received treatment free of charge. Presently, 60% of the approximately
policy through travel agents and 20,000 hospitals registered under the program are in the private sector,
corporates in the form of a group Bhushan said, adding that increasing their participation was critical to the
cover and will sell it as an individual scheme's success.
policy. Apart from increasing cover-
age, the policy is aimed at conve- With the aim of expanding the scheme more swiftly, however, the NHA was
nience. The delay cover, besides tak- likely to seek at least 80 billion rupees for next year, 30% more than its cur-
ing care of extra costs, also provides rent annual budget, in accordance with the information from a source. "In the
access to airport lounges, as an add- next year, the scheme should be quite well-known across the country," Bhushan
said.
on cover. “We are also trying to ease
the process through auto-intimation
of claims. In case of trip delay, we
can plug into the airline systems and
make payment directly to the in-
sured,” said Jain.

6 The Insurance Times, December 2019