Comprehensive Health Insurance from Apollo Munich

Everybody wants to have complete health protection. The problem arises when they choose a health policy for themselves. There are very few numbers of people who know how to make a right choice. Majority of people buy the plan that is recommended by their friends or relatives, thus ignoring their healthcare needs. A person should try and buy a comprehensive health insurance policy so that there are no issues before him/her at the time of medical emergency. These policies help a person to enjoy life under the complete coverage.

Apollo Munich, a joint venture between the Apollo Group of Hospitals and Munich Health, has taken all the above said parameters in mind and has designed products, looking into healthcare needs of people. It has brought a variety of products to help Indian citizens seek medical treatment with ease. An insured need not have to worry for the medical expenses while seeking quality healthcare. There are products for people of all income groups.

India’s first 360 degree product, called Maxima, is the most comprehensive health insurance plan designed by Apollo Munich. It offers wide coverage, which includes inpatient as well as outpatient treatment, maternity expenses, optional critical illness cover, outpatient treatment for pre-existing diseases etc. There is no doubt that the premium associated with this plan is quite high but it is far too less than the coverage offered with this plan. There is coverage for pharmacy costs, diagnostic tests, doctor’s consultations, up to a certain limit. It is, therefore said that Maxima makes medical treatment almost free for an insured.

Looking into other products brought by the company, Easy Health has gained much popularity. In the recent survey, in which various health insurance products in India were compared on basis of their price and features, Easy Health gained the topmost position for being the best medical insurance policy. It is one of the 5-star rated products. One good aspect of this product is that there are three variants and a person can buy the one, as per his/her health needs and budget. This plan also offers complete health coverage at cost-effective price.

Both these products, mentioned above, come with a lifelong renewal facility such that its customers can enjoy the coverage for the entire life. Regular renewal also helps them to enjoy continuity benefit. So, a person can enjoy life under the coverage of these plans.

Reliance Life plans to build up traditional products

Reliance Life Insurance Company, a part of Reliance Capital is looking to enhance its offering for protection-oriented plans, as it plans to launch couple of riders that will give the insured added protection at nominal cost. The company has filed two new riders ‘family income benefit’ and ‘waiver of premium’, for which regulatory approvals are awaited.

The firm is also looking to launch competitive online term insurance plan.

“The regulator has already reiterated its focus on protection by increasing the minimum life cover for Ulip policies. We are taking that further by offering opportunities to increase protection beyond the basic life cover,” said Malay Ghosh, CEO, Reliance Life Insurance during a media interaction.

Reliance Life is further considering the launch of fixed benefit simplified health insurance plan for individuals.

The company has, over the last couple of fiscal years, seen significant reduction in its operating losses and is set for turnaround in current fiscal as it aims at profit of over Rs300 crore. The company, which had reported loss of Rs129 crore in FY11, has been making operating profits every month since the last three quarters.

The firm is targeting regular premium of Rs5,000 crore and new business premium (NBP) of Rs3,500 crore in the current fiscal, with half of it likely to come from traditional plans.

The largest private insurance firm (by number of policies) is open to bancassurance strategy, which would help it to significantly increase its topline.

“Reliance Life has been approached by several banks for tie-up with equity partnership and we are keenly exploring innovative partnership models,” said Ghosh.

The company, which has been in the forefront in reaching out to rural mass market, is also launching rural career agent programme, under which it would induct 6,000 agents during the year. It would also recruit 4,000 sales managers during the fiscal, taking the total sales manager’s strength to 12,000.

The company has seen 31% growth in its assets under management (AUM) during fiscal 2011 to `17,855 crore and islooking at doubling it in the next three years.