NEW DELHI, 5 December 2014: Mr. T S Vijayan, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA),describing the theme of the conference as apt, said that the spectrum of health insurance needs to be
widened and it should be made easy to access information, compare and purchase a product with the advent of
technology. Also, Mr. Vijayan highlighted the need to focus on chronic as well as elderly care in India, as it is
projected that India would have 300 million elderly people by 2050. He urged the industry to customize their
products for the elderly, who require extra care.
While addressing the seventh edition of FICCI’s Health Insurance Conference on the theme ‘Health Insurance 2.0:
Leapfrogging beyond Hospitalization’, Mr. Vijayan said that an accurate data bank is the backbone of an efficient
health insurance network. Going forward, the data bank will help in analyzing probability of spreading of a disease in
an area and will assist in dealing with other such challenges.
Mr. Vijayan said that as figures show that penetration of insurance is still languishing at five per cent, which makes it
necessary to begin awareness drives. He suggested that product and process innovation could be a game changer in
increasing the share of health insurance in the country. He also advised the industry to leverage the existing
technologies such as mobile phones and Aadhar Card to spread the network of health insurance.
In this context, Dr. A Didar Singh, Secretary General, FICCI, shared with the audience that FICCI has proposed to the
Finance Ministry in the pre-budget memorandum to mandate every organization to insure all employees for a
minimum amount of Rs. 1 lakh while allowing tax deduction on premium paid by the employer and also a provision
for top-up by each employee as an incentive.
Dr. Sanjay Jaiswal, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, reiterated his government’s commitment to universal
healthcare including a strong focus on preventive and promotive healthcare. He also mentioned a renewed focus on
quality under health insurance using the staged approach of NABH standard which will be in place soon.
FICCI has submitted a note on categorization of hospital based on NABH parameters to IRDA for consideration of the
insurance regulator and the industry.
Dr. Nandakumar Jairam, Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Advisory Group & Chairman & Group Medical Director,
Columbia Asia Hospitals, in his address said that 80 per cent of the health insurance was provided by private sector
but there was a lack of health finance structure. He cautioned that in future the cost of health care is bound to
increase owing to expensive technologies adopted by hospitals. He added that the government’s social insurance
schemes are laudable but still financing is a challenge.
Mr. Antony Jacob, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Advisory Group & CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance Co.
Ltd., highlighted the scope of preventive care, screening of diseases, management of care and role of each
stakeholder in the insurance cycle to shift the focus from acute care to wellness.Mr. Girish Rao, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Advisory Group & Chairman & Managing Director Vidal
Healthcare Services Pvt. Ltd., said that out of pocket expense still stands at 65%, which needs attention. The
challenge is to make the health care system more meaningful by creating a heterogeneous capacity. He added that
TPAs were able to bring scale to insurance but still financing for chronic diseases and out of pocket expenses need to
come under the ambit of insurance.
Later in her keynote address, Dr. Akiko Maeda, Lead Health Specialist, Health, Nutrition, & Population Group
Practice, World Bank Group, said that universal health coverage necessarily involves redistribution and trade-offs
across different interest groups and requires an adaptive and inclusive leadership and a supportive governance
structure. Economic growth helps with coverage expansion, but this is not a sufficient condition for ensuring equitable
coverage. Countries need to work pro-actively and continuously on pro-poor policies to reduce disparities in access to
health care, and to improve financial protection.
On the occasion, two knowledge papers were released ‘Ensuring care for the golden years – Way forward for India’and ‘Leapfrogging beyond Hospitalization’.
innovation could be a game changer of health insurance. – says IRDA Chairman
