Welcoming the move on health insurance portability, the insurers said the move would make the industry more competitive, transparent and innovative. The directive to insurance companies to provide all records and claims history of the customer to the new insurance company will bring in more transparency and will also allow insurers to assess the risk and provide underwriting at the point of sales.
Subrahmanyam B, vice-president and head, health vertical, Bharti AXA General Insurance said the move was in the best interests of the consumer.
“The major factor which was preventing customers from transferring their health insurance policies to another company was the possibility of losing continuity of benefits such as cover for pre-existing diseases or illnesses. This has been removed,'' said Subrahmanyam.
Further, the move by Irda will give insurance providers an impetus to focus more on customer value and engagement. However, the industry still need to find an effective data sharing mechanism to ensure continuity in maintaining highest standards of service delivery.
“Our existing health insurance policy has exclusion of four years in case of pre-existing disease. So, while filing for the new product having an add-on features of portability, we may reduce this exclusion period by half. Similar thing may be applicable in the case of pricing too,'' he said.
Anthony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance said portability would help increase service requirement amongst all the health insurance players. “I do not see any mass migration due to portability. We will carry forward the number of years in case of pre-existing diseases. In the same way, if the waiting period is over the completed period, the policy holders would get credit out of it. No claim bonus benefit would also be there,” he explained.
Neeraj Basur, CFO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, “ The guidelines on portability of health insurance issued by the Irda is a step in the right direction as customers get more choice and they can now demand better service and have the option of moving to other insurers.”
