If you smoke, be ready to pay more for your medical insurance. Though life insurance firms already charge smokers 15% extra premium, even general insurance firms which offer health insurance are now planning to make smokers pay more.
General insurers, which are already facing mounting losses due to rising medical costs & high claims in the health insurance portfolio, have increased premium rates by 15 to 20% this year for all policyholders.
Mr. K. G. Krishnamoorty Rao, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Future General Insurance, said, “Earlier, health insurance was only a one year contract. But under the new regulations with life-long renewals, we will look at parameters such as smoking as well while determining the premium amount”
The health insurance regulations notified by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) earlier this year (2013) had stipulated that general insurers would have to offer life-long renewals.
Now, though most general insurance firms do not charge a higher premium from smokers, if a person is more than 45 years of age and is a heavy smoker, the individual is asked to undergo additional medical tests before the policy is issued.
Mr. Renuka Kanvinde, Associate Vice-President, Health Insurance, Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, said, ''While general insurance firms may not necessarily charge a higher premium for smokers, insurers may have other parameters for smokers in terms of coverage & exclusions"
Saibal Bhattacharaya, Associate Vice-President, Customer Service, ICICI Lombard general insurance, said, “The risk perception for smokers is definitely higher. But we are still gathering information on smokers and its correlation to health insurance claims.”
Currently, Bhattacharya added, “There is some amount of cross subsidisation by non-smokers, but since we do not have a premium differentiation for smokers as of now, we will look into it going forward.”
No comments:
Post a Comment