Covid ups demand for higher health cover

The demand was triggered mainly due to rising hospitalisation expenses for Covid treatment, according to insurance aggregator and lead generator Policybazaar.com official.

Hyderabad: With Covid numbers rising steadily, many people are opting for a higher health insurance cover of Rs one crore. The trend started last year around the same time when the lockdown was first announced.

The demand was triggered mainly due to rising hospitalisation expenses for Covid treatment, according to insurance aggregator and lead generator Policybazaar.com official.

“Towards the end of 2019, the penetration of high sum insured policies (Rs 1 crore) was at 2 per cent of the total health policies sold on the platform. However, this has now increased to 35 percent,clearly showing how awareness around high sum insured covers has picked up,” said Amit Chhabra, Head of Health Insurance, Policybazaar.

“Given three months into 2021, the average share of Rs 1 crore health plan bookings on the platform stands at 12.5 per cent compared to 9 per cent in 2020,” he said.Most of the policies are issued based on telemedicals,he said. People in the age group of 30-40 bought the highest (55 per cent) share of high sum insured policies.

Of this, 13 per cent have pre-existing diseases. Out of the total health insurance policies sold on Policybazaar, about 35 per cent of them are for Rs 5 lakh and 11 per cent for Rs 10 lakh cover.“The year 2020 changed perceptions about importance and the need for having proper health insurance as some hospital bills touched Rs 25 lakh. People With a lower heath cover were helpless,” he said. Policies From Max Bupa, Care Health Insurance and Aditya Birla Capital amongst others have witnessed traction.

“Many people are buying health insurance policies on EMIs but are not giving upon the big cover. Also, youngsters are buying health policies for their parents.Part of the demand,like every year, is triggered by the need to save tax for the financial year,” he said.On the low priced corona covers, he said renewals and new purchases are not high as many are preferring to buy comprehensive health covers.

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