Heart ailments
and cancer together account for over 50% of health problems among Indians..!
Life insurance companies
have latched on to health as the fastest way to grow. In the past six months,
the number of products that offer special cover for heart disease and cancer
treatment have more than doubled.
Recently, three
companies including ICICI Prudential Life, Birla SunLife and Aviva Life have
launched health insurance products catering to specific illness.
ICICI Prudential Life's
ICICI Pru HeartCancer Protect, for instance, pays part of the insurance cover
to the customer on diagnosis of a heart ailment or cancer. Customers can choose
the type of cover, either for heart or cancer, or have the option to purchase
both.
“Health insurance forms
a small part of our premium income as of now,“ said Puneet Nanda, executive
director, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance.
“We expect growth rate
for protection to be higher and are focusing on growing the overall protection
segment.“
Health insurance makes
up around 25% of the general insurance industry while it is less than 5% of the
life insurance industry.Heart ailments and cancer together account for over 50%
of health problems among Indians, said Nanda.
Similarly, Birla
SunLife's CritiShield Plan offers three types of benefits: cardiac benefit,
renal benefit and comprehensive benefit. In cases of both (cardiac and renal),
at the diagnosis of an early stage cardiac or renal condition, 30% of the sum
assured will be paid to the life insured, and at the diagnosis of a major stage
cardiac or renal condition, 100% of the sum assured is paid.
Aviva's Heart Care product
provides coverage against 19 mild, moderate and severe cardiovascular
conditions, and procedures and allows lump sum payout irrespective of the
treatment cost.
“Indians are prone to
heart ailments due to multiple factors including genetics, unhealthy diet,
sedentary lifestyle, stress etc, making it the Cardio Vascular Disease capital
of the world,“ Aviva stated in a report.
According to reports,
heart attacks and chronic kidney disease comprises the top-10 causes of death
in India. Medical research shows that India has the highest rate of cardiac
arrests in the world with around 2 lakh heart surgeries conducted every year.
Cancer cases are expected to rise by 25% by 2020. Every 13 new cancer patient
is from India, show ICICI Prudential data.
“People are buying
products for illnesses that are discomforting to them,“ said Sanjay Datta, head
of underwriting, ICICI Lombard General Insurance. “There are products covering
several critical illnesses for years but now companies are launching single
critical illness products as well.“
While cost of treating a
heart attack can cost between Rs. 3- 10 lakh and the expenses for a kidney transplant can be
Rs. 4- 7 lakh.
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