Health Insurance Expansion Lures Reliance Life Reliance
Reliance Life is scheduling its presence in the health insurance sector in a bid to tap low customer penetration in this area.
So far health insurance is dominated by general insurance companies at present, though, many life insurance firms have introduced many health focused products.
Reliance Life, part of Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group's financial services firm Reliance Capital Limited, has also launched two new health products - Reliance Life Care for You Advantage Plan and Reliance Life Easy Care Fixed Benefit Plan.
"Health insurance is an important part of our comprehensive protection portfolio designed for customers because the health sector offers a huge service opportunity," Reliance Life Insurance CEO Anup Rau said.
"Health insurance penetration in India is as low as 5 percent, with over 85 percent of the 1.4 billion populations having no health cover. We see health segment as an opportunity to serve all requirements of customers and their families in short, medium and long-term," he said.
At present the company has three health products and intends to strengthen their presence in the health insurance field.
"Keeping in mind needs, difficulties and worries faced by customers while meeting their health expenses, we have innovated health products to help them meet their healthcare exigencies and costs at every stage of life effectively and fill the gaps in health space," Rau said.
"We recognize health insurance as one of the primary protection requirements for individuals and family members in the country," he added.
New health insurance regulations, passed a regulation, which specified that critical illnesses were to be covered as standardized definitions, have pushed life insurers to turn their attention towards the health segment.
Besides Reliance Life, other life insurers like ICICI Prudential, Bajaj Allianz and HDFC Life are also looking to capitalize on growth in the health insurance category.
On an average, life insurers have two to three percent of their business coming from health insurance in the retail segment and have a huge growth opportunity as the health market is highly untapped.
References:
Hannah Punitha (IRDA Licence Number: 2710062)
PTI, April 2013
Source: Medindia