Now, a price index for health and term insurance policies

Online insurance marketplace PolicyX has launched India’s first insurance price index that allows users to observe shifts and trends in the premium prices. The index on a quarterly basis will track prices of health insurance and term insurance plans from leading insurance companies and provide analysis and trends via data analytics.

According to Sameer Bansal, chief distribution officer at PNB MetLife India Insurance Co. Ltd, the index will support customers in choosing a policy that is fit for their needs while delivering value for money. The first report based on the index showed that the prices have remained stable in the last quarter for both health and term plans. The index will be updated on a quarterly basis.

The Term Insurance Price Index is calculated based on the average premium prices of the top ten life insurance companies in terms of gross written premiums (GWP) as per the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India’s (Irdai) November 2020 report. The 10 companies are Life Insurance Corporation of India, SBI Life, HDFC Life, ICICI Prudential, Max Life, Bajaj Allianz Life, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Kotak Mahindra Life, Tata AIA Life and Canara HSBC OBC Life.

The index value remained unchanged at 20,995 for the December quarter, showing that the term insurance prices remained stable over the previous quarter. “The average price for a ₹50 lakh sum assured was ₹14,839 and for a ₹1 crore sum assured, it was ₹27,150. There was no change for all the 10 insurance companies forming part of the index," the company said in a release.

The price taken was an average for four age bands—25 years, 35 years, 45 years and 55 years, and both genders male and female. It also considered premium prices for both smokers and non-smokers. For the Health Insurance Price Index, PolicyX has chosen one public and five private health insurance companies in terms of their gross written premium (GWP) earned as per Irdai’s annual report for 2018-19. The health insurance companies in the index are—The New India Assurance, Star Health and Allied, ICICI Lombard General, Bajaj Allianz General, HDFC ERGO General and Religare Health.

The index also remained stable sequentially at 24,026 in the December quarter. “In the health insurance price indexing, PolicyX was able to determine that at the time of purchasing the health insurance policy, the number of family members covered directly affects the premium prices. Moreover, an adult member does not increase the prices proportionately, highlighting the fact that family floater plans are more economical than buying two separate policies," the company said.

According to Naval Goel, chief executive officer and founder, PolicyX, the company plans to bring out interesting insights and data analytics through this report every quarter for the consumers and industry participants.

Source: Live Mint

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