With the country?s health insurance penetration at only about 3%, there is a huge market yet to be tapped. A new entrant in this space is Max Bupa Health Insurance, a joint venture between Analjit Singh?s Max and global health insurer Bupa. Damien Marmion, the chief executive of the company, in an interview with FE?s Sitanshu Swain, discusses his plans for India and promises to bring in a different experience in the domestic health insurance market. Excerpts:
How do you view the Indian healthcare and health insurance markets? Currently, how developed or undeveloped are they?
In India, the health insurance market is in a highly nascent stage. With a current penetration level of about 3%, there is huge potential to be tapped. Effectively, 97% still need a good health insurance cover. Healthcare itself has a lot of ground to cover in India and there is a need for more quality hospitals and doctors. Also, the regulatory environment is currently changing and enabling insurers to offer more quality services. We believe that healthcare requires a long-term relationship with the customers, it is not just a transaction. Customer centricity is the key to delivering high quality and consistent customer experience.
What should be done to improve the healthcare market, including the role of health insurance in order to serve the customer better?
Since Indian consumers still do not see any return in health insurance unlike life insurance policies, the value perception of health insurance has not made a mark. This is a constraint as far as health insurance penetration is concerned. There are two important aspects about the perception ? the service and the product. The perceptions about the array of services that a health insurance provider offers are not very clear. Now, most insurers are beginning to communicate consistently about products and thus, addressing the somewhat stilted communication. Health insurance companies must realise that being approachable and transparent will play a crucial role in helping customers manage their health proactively.
The health insurance portfolio has been a loss-making portfolio for almost all general insurers. Is there anything wrong in the way it is currently managed?
The health insurance industry is in its initial stages and as it grows, it will follow the same lifecycle as the life insurance industry. For the industry to grow, it is important to develop a strong relationship between the insurance provider, customers and healthcare providers. Health insurance products deal with aspects of health and that require a detailed explanation and a more personalised approach. Health insurance products need to be more comprehensive and transparent and have minimal fineprint to ensure good value delivered to customers. Companies need to address issues related to servicing and low product innovation.
Do you plan to provide extra benefits, since your local partner has a chain of hospitals?
We have a network of 600 quality hospitals across the country, and these offer cashless services. Max Hospitals are a part of our network. Since they it is a group company, it allows us to share best practices and look for areas in which we can work together. We want to partner all our network hospitals in helping our customers live healthier and more successful lives.
How competitive will your pricing be?
We offer products to suit different target groups. Under Heartbeat, our customers can choose an individual or family cover across price bands from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 50 lakh. We also have a transparent pricing system.
What kind of customers, products, and premiums are you looking at in the next two years?
Despite being a new entrant in the health insurance space, we are encouraged by the excellent response from the market. We have recently completed over 10,000 policies and covered over 15,000 lives in less than 200 days of beginning operations and are sure that going ahead, we will see good traction. We are working towards earning our customers? trust and providing value to customers as well as our shareholders.