Insurance companies plan special health cover for diabetics

There is one big consolation that diabetics will have—an exclusive insurance cover. At least two insurance companies are planning a specialised health cover for diabetics.

While Apollo Munich has already filed a diabetic cover with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Religare Health Insurance will soon submit documents for a similar cover with the regulator.

Unlike the existing health covers, which do not cover hospitals admissions due to complications of diabetes for up to four years, the proposed policies will cover diabetics from day one. At least 61 million people in India are diabetic. The burden of the epidemic does not end with these people as a national level diabetic study called INDIAB has found that 71.2 million are in the pre-diabetic stage.

Insurance companies see this as a good business proposition as the disease is an epidemic in India.

“We believe in the preventive health care model and are looking to manage the lifecycle of the insured through such offerings,” Nitin Jain, president and chief operating officer, Religare Health Insurance said.

The other sweet spot for insurers is that such covers will be more expensive than other normal health covers with analysts anticipating premium loadings to be 10% to 25% more on such covers when compared to normal health covers.

“Ultimately, it will be a good mix of volumes as well as values game as India has a good number of diabetes,” Rahul Aggarwal, chief executive officer, Optima Insurance Brokers, an insurance advisory firm said.

Even medical practitioners have welcomed the move. “Till now, there weren’t many health covers for patients suffering from diabetes and the bulk of expenses for ailments arising out of this condition were borne by the patients themselves,” Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-DOC (Centre of Excellence for diabetes, metabolic diseases and endocrinology) said.

A recent study by MV Hospital for Diabetes in the city showed nearly 61% of the people—aged between 24 and 70—used their personal savings for treatment of the disorder and nearly 23% depended on loans. Further, the study also said that on an average, the minimum annual expenditure of a newly diagnosed diabetic, who has been prescribed only tablets for controlling sugar, was Rs 15,550. It includes costs of drugs and laboratory tests.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Insurance-companies-plan-special-health-cover-for-diabetics/articleshow/18156809.cms