Health Insurance Premiums Remain Stable in Jul-Sept 2021: Report

Health Insurance Premiums Persistent since Qtr 4, 2020

As per the Insurance Price Index report, no change in the index value of health insurance prices was observed in Quarter 3, 2021. It stated that the Health Insurance Price Index has been persistent since Quarter 4, 2020 at Rs 25,124.

The data has been formed based on no premium hike by five health insurance companies, which were a part of the index. The premium has been compiled averagely from these five insurance companies across all age groups i.e. 26 years, 36 years, 46 years and 56 years and coverage types i.e. one adult, two adults, two adults + one child and two adults + two children.

Alternatively, the report highlighted that the health insurance premium does not increase in proportion to the sum insured amount. For instance, the average premium payable by a 26-year-old for a Rs 5 lakh sum insured was Rs 13,140 and Rs 10 lakh sum insured was Rs 16,695 across all categories. This shows an increase in premium by 27% despite a 100% increase in the sum insured amount.

Further, the report also highlighted that the premium for a family floater policy does not increase proportionately to adding members to the policy. While the premium increases by 50% on average if one adult of the same or lower age is added to the policy, the hike is lower on adding the first child and second child to the policy i.e. 11.9% and 13.7% respectively.

However, a high variance in the health insurance premium among the five companies forming the index was observed. The premium varied from 59% to 76% for different age groups, which is higher than the variance observed under term insurance companies. The policy coverage, benefits and features are believed to be the reason for the significant difference in premium among health insurance and term insurance companies.