You can read the latest stories on insurance that have been published in various media.

New Zealand: Insured quake losses to hit US$12 bln

Insured losses from Monday’s earthquake in Christchurch may reach US$12 billion, said JPMorgan Chase. The disaster is described as New Zealand’s deadliest earthquake in eight decades.

In a note to clients, which was carried in newswires, JPMorgan Chase analyst Michael Huttner said even buildings still standing may have hidden structural damage and may need to be rebuilt. He added that the estimated losses was a “very conservative assumption” and noted that all reinsurers had revised cost estimates for the previous earthquake.

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Gross premium income of general insurers rises 38%

The gross premium income of the general insurance industry increased 38.4 per cent in January as compared to the year before.

According to data collated by insurers, the industry collected Rs 4,149 crore by writing new policies in January, as against Rs 2,998 crore last year. As compared to December 2010, the gross premium income increased 17.4 per cent.

The private players outshone their public sector peers, registering growth of 47.58 per cent to Rs 1,957 crore, whereas the public sector companies collected a premium of Rs 2,192 crore — a growth rate of 31.1 per cent.

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Exempt general insurance firms from MAT

Applicability of the provisions of Minimum Alternate Tax to General insurance companies – General insurance companies ought to be exempted from Minimum Alternate Tax as these companies do not enjoy any tax incentives.

The insurance companies are required to prepare books of accounts as per the requirements of IRDA regulations. They do not prepare accounts as per Schedule VI of the Companies Act, which is prescribed under the provisions of MAT.

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PSU insurers to launch captive TPA

Public sector general insurers, who control over 70% of the individual health market, are set to launch a captive third-party administrator with the announcement of a joint venture partner this week.

The partner is likely to be one of the two Indian TPAs which had responded to the public sector companies’ request for proposals.

Third-party administrators are intermediaries who provide the link between hospitals and insurance companies to facilitate cashless settlement of claims.

Twenty-nine TPAs have come up since the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) started registering all intermediaries. State-owned insurance companies feel that they are unable to wrangle better terms from hospitals and bring down cost of treatment because the administration of health insurance claims is fragmented.
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Soon, get cashless aid in all Mumbai hospitals

Cashless facilities may now be accepted by every single hospital in the city in a month’s time. By the end of this financial year, all the major hospitals in Mumbai will join the fray of preferred provider’s network (PPN), said a senior insurance company official. This will ensure transparency in rates of treatments provided by the hospitals and help patients avail the cashless facility.

“We are in talks with many hospitals now. By the end of this financial year on March 15, we will bring all the hospitals in the PPN fold,” said Dr Mohammed Mukhtar, health strategist and manager of MD India Health Care Services.

This week itself, Cumballa hill hospital and Heart Institute in Kemps Corner has signed the agreement with General Insurance Public Sector Association (GIPSA). The Fortis group, consisting of 53 hospitals all over India, is also in talks of signing the agreement.
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L&T General Insurance plans new products

L&T General Insurance Company has planned a slew of health insurance products in an attempt to make some serious inroads in the general insurance market in the next financial year.

The company, which started operations late last year, is the latest entrant in the Indian general insurance sector and has so far launched nearly 25 products and written premium worth Rs 7-8 crore till January.

“We are doing 3,000-4,000 cases a month and identified health insurance and micro insurance as our prime focus area. In the next financial year, we will be launching a whole bouquet of comprehensive health insurance products,” said Joydeep Roy, chief executive, L&T General Insurance Company

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Farmers unlikely to get insurance for damaged crops

The farmers in the state, who had lost their crops to the recent rain and hailstorm, may not get any compensation from the present weather-based insurance scheme in the state as hailstorm is not covered under the policy.

According to sources, the state has adopted the weather-based insurance in which the compensation is calculated on the basic parameters of temperature, rainfall and moisture levels. These parameters could be measured by instruments and compensation is paid if temperature goes up beyond a point or of flood or in the case of excess moisture incursion acting as a spoiler for the crops.

However, the present calamity in the form of hailstorm do not come under any of the existing parameters and hence no insurance coverage.

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Not keen on IPO now: ICICI Pru

Even as the sectoral regulator Irda has said IPO guidelines will be out within the next 45 days, leading private sector insurer ICICI Prudential Life today said it is not very keen on hitting the capital market soon.

“We are not very keen on going in for an IPO (initial public offer) as we don’t need to raise any capital now. We are, in fact, very well capitalised,” ICICI Prudential Life Managing Director and Chief Executive Sandeep Bakshi told PTI.

However, speaking at a roundtable on the last day of the 13th Global Conference on Actuaries here, he said, IPO will be good for the industry as it will help companies arrive at better price discoveries.

Yesterday, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Member (Actuaries) R Kannan said the regulator will issue the IPO guidelines within the next 30-45 days.

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Changing insurer: How you gain from health portability

Are you satisfied with your health insurance provider? Most Indians aren’t. A study conducted by the Voluntary Organization in Interest of Consumer Education a few years ago found that a majority of the 3,600 respondents across eight metros had faced some problem or the other while dealing with their insurance providers. Health insurance holds the dubious distinction of having the highest level of customer dissatisfaction.

Despite the disenchantment, policyholders don’t want to switch their health insurance provider because they lose out on certain benefits, such as the cover for pre-existing diseases. Certain pre-existing diseases and medical conditions are covered by health insurance only if the policy has been in force for 3-4 years.

If the customer switches to a new company, the waiting period starts all over again. Last week, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) declared that from 1 July this year, all existing medical insurance policies will become portable.

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Maharashtra big on health insurance claims

When it comes to health insurance, the people of Maharashtra always get their due. The state led the country in the number of medical insurance claims filed in 2009-2010, indicating, according to experts, higher levels of public awareness about the issue.

More than 2.96 lakh policyholders in Maharashtra applied for cashless and reimbursement claims with general insurance companies providing health cover in the financial year 2009-2010, according to data compiled by the Insurance Information Bureau ( IIB), a government agency. In comparison, Delhi boasted a figure of just 1.16 lakh claims. Only Gujarat and Tamil Nadu came close to Maharashtra with 1.62 lakh and 1.51 lakh claims, respectively.

An insurance analyst attributed the noticeable difference in numbers to public awareness levels. “In Delhi and Maharashtra, particularly in cities like Mumbai and Pune, awareness about insurance products is comparatively higher than in rest of the country. A large number of people are buying health insurance policies. Obviously, with a sizeable number of people getting insured, the claims are also going to be high,” he said.

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Parents skip insurance claim for girls
The prejudice against the girl child begins at birth. In 2009-10, parents across India filed medical insurance claims for more than 2.8 lakh boys within a year of their birth, but the same number for daughters was an abysmal 13,064.

The incongruity is a serious departure from the previous two years when the claims filed for the two sexes below the age of one were roughly on par, according to data compiled by the Insurance Information Bureau ( IIB). Few can accurately explain this change in the nation’s attitudes, but one theory goes that the reason might be the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, a Central scheme aimed at providing healthcare to the country’s poor.

“There has recently been a big jump in the number of policies and claims filed. This could partly be because of the implementation of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for BPL families,” said an official of a prominent Third Party Administrator company.

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