New India Assurance plans small-premium mediclaim cover

New India Assurance Company, the market chief in the general insurance sector, plans to launch by the end of 2010-11 a low-premium health insurance policy for the masses, according to its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr M. Ramadoss.
The planned mediclaim policy, expected to be one of the lowest priced in the market, would cover a selected number of diseases and also contain the number of hospitals from which the policyholders can avail themselves of the medical services, Mr Ramadoss said.
The insurer plans to file the policy with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority in a month.
“The whole idea is to carry down the premium rates by restricting the choices to the insured,” Mr Ramadoss said on the sidelines of a seminar organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry here. The policyholders in this case would be given a list of hospitals for availing themselves of the medical services and the policy might cover a selected 51 common diseases, he pointed out.
“At present, the standard annual premium rate for a mediclaim policy is Rs 1,000 for a sum insured of Rs 1 lakh. We wish to bring down the rates in the new policy to the sub-thousand levels,” he said. The sum insured for the policy may be Rs 1 lakh or more, he added.
He, however, maintained that the policy was still in the scheming stage and the financials for the same were not yet frozen.
He said .It also planned to launch a new motor insurance policy in 2010-11 and would look at revising upwards the prices of some of its existing health insurance products.
The Gross Direct Premium Income (GDPI) of the company from Indian operations may increase to Rs 6,000 crore in 2009-10, up from Rs 5,200 crore in 2008-09. Its GDPI from 23 branches located abroad will increase from Rs 1,000 crore last financial to Rs 1,250 crore in 2009-10, he pointed out.
He added. The general insurance sector was estimated to grow at 10-11 per cent this fiscal with the GDPI collected by all the companies expected to exceed Rs 34,000 crore.