Page 41 - The Insurance Times July 2020

updates can protect your systems from breach. Updates Ongoing safety
often contain fixes to security flaws and any bugs that could Even in the midst of a global crisis, cyber thieves will continue
create open doors for hackers. Simply updating these to operate and even increase their activities. Your company
programs regularly can strengthen your security.
should be aware that hackers have shifted the message to
capitalize on the pandemic and our thirst for information
Don't be the easiest target and advice.
The easier your system is to breach, the less prepared your
employees are against phishing scams, the more likely While their methods have changed, the advice for thwarting
hackers will exploit these gaps in security. Making it more thieves remains the same, and already recommended best
difficult for hackers to gain access means they are that practices can help protect your company's systems.
much more likely to move on to easier targets.
No matter what the crisis, expect hackers to be ready to
Keep your security plan active. Require regular password exploit it. By strengthening both your employees' training and
changes. Get the buy-in of your entire organization and your system readiness, your company can strengthen its
make security part of the culture. security posture and help decrease the chance of a breach.T

Insurers to cover homecare expenses

Insurance companies, which would only settle hospitalisation claims so far, may soon extend the benefits for homecare
expenses not only for Covid-19 treatment but also other ailments. The medical insurance or the indemnity policy issued by
insurance companies in India primarily covered claims arising out of hospitalisation. Any outpatient visits or diagnostic
tests were usually left out of the purview of the indemnity policy or had to be bought as an add-on cover at an additional
premium. However, in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic and the shortage of beds and unavailability of medical staff across
the top cities posing a challenge in ensuring treatment, a number of insurance companies have extended the cover for
homebased care.
According to Dr S Prakash, Managing Director, Star Health and Allied Insurance, homecare is a goodinitiative andhasto be
fundamentally encouraged not only during Covid-19 but even after the pandemic. One of the biggest problems for the
insurance industry is the "unnecessary conversion of outpatient into inpatient", and this can be avoided by providing
homecare through properly assisted technology platforms. The move will help bring down the claims in value terms for
insurance companies. The average claim for Covid-19-related hospitalisation, for instance, has been in the range of Rs.1.09
lakh to Rs.1.12 lakh, which is more than three times the claim outgo incurred by insurers for viral diseases such as dengue.
When compared to this, a 14day homecare package offered by most hospitals and service providers works out to close to
Rs.15000, excluding medicines. When asked if the insurance industry was prepared to bring in changes in its coverage
norms, he said: "We have to break the rule so that we can create one. You cannot break the rule during normal
circumstances; it is during times like this that you can experiment and innovate something new. This is a very good idea,
which will help the customer, hospitals, and insurance companies as well."
Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, which started giving claims for home-based care on a case-to-case basis from May,
subsequently rolled out the service for all of its indemnity customers. A wide scale replication of the service for other
treatments may call for some tweaking in pricing as well as terms and conditions of the policy, said Bhaskar Nerurkar,
Head, Health Claims, Bajaj Allianz. "It (having cover for home-based treatments) may come, but it will involve some process
of working on the terms and conditions.
"We will have to follow the market data, and the actuaries will have to appropriately price it and put some terms and
conditions to ensure that there is no abuse of that cover," he pointed out. ICICI Lombard General Insurance and HDFC
Ergo, for instance, have extended coverage for homecare expenses for non Covid treatment. HDFC Ergo has included
gastroenteritis, bronchopneumonia, respiratory tract infection, chemotherapy, pancreatitis, dengue, COPD management,
hepatitis and fever management under home care.
"We have the regulator's approval for extending the coverage for some non-Covid homebased care, and we have tied up
with specific service providers for the same," said Bhargav Dasgupta, MD and CEO, ICICI Lombard. The insurer is also
considering accepting claim for certain OPD procedures as well for claim actualisation.

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