Your mediclaim policy is set to become pricey in 2013.

General insurers, both in the private and public sectors, have approached the regulator for a 10-30 per cent upward revision in retail health insurance tariff so as to curb losses or improve the bottomline.

The ball was set rolling by State-owned National Insurance Corporation (NIC), in September this year, demanding 20-30 per cent revision.

Following the footsteps of the PSU major, private players such as ICICI Lombard and Bharti AXA General Insurance have sought 15-20 per cent and 10-12 per cent upward revision in tariff, respectively.

“We have approached IRDA for 15-20 per cent hike in prices for individual health policy,” said Sanjay Datta, Chief – Underwriting and Claims, ICICI Lombard.

ICICI Lombard currently holds about 10 per cent share of the estimated Rs 15,000-crore health insurance market in the country. The company has recently launched a product — Complete Health Insurance — which has factored in the price rise, he said.

According to available reports, most insurers have been reporting losses in the health insurance business.

Curbing losses

High ‘combined ratio’ (which includes the claims, administrative and other management expenses) and rise in medical expenses are some of the key reasons for the segment reporting losses.

While NIC claims to have reported loss in mediclaim business, ICICI wants price revision to “help improve margins”.

According to Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and Managing Director, Bharti AXA, the company sought revision to offset 12-15 per cent inflationary pressure in healthcare.

“The regulator wants us to maintain the prices stable for atleast a period of 5-6 years to ensure that the customer is not misled. If this has to be done then we have to factor in the medical inflation while formulating our policy. So we are asking for a one-time hike of about 10-12 per cent,” Ananthanarayanan said.

shobha.roy@thehindu.co.in

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