Senior citizens face higher premiums as IRDAI lifts entry-age barrier
The shift in regulations may result in increased premiums for senior citizens due to the development of targeted insurance products aimed at this demographic.
The shift in regulations may result in increased premiums for senior citizens due to the development of targeted insurance products aimed at this demographic.
Bima Manthan took place at the IRDAI Headquarters in Hyderabad, where Chairman Debasish Panda, addressed the first meet of FY25, the silver jubilee year for the regulator. Key considerations included utilizing the State Insurance Plan to meet the varied needs of the population, pricing and other modalities of Bima Vistar and more.
The recent notification by the regulator prohibits insurance companies from denying policies to individuals with severe medical conditions such as cancer, heart or renal failure, and AIDS.
Insurers are likely to encounter difficulties in accurately pricing premiums for senior citizens due to limited past experience.
The insurer will contact the third-party administrator to proceed with the pre-authorisation. They will check the cause for your admittance and confirm that the condition is covered under the policy and that you have cleared the waiting period. Following the completion of your treatment, the hospital authority will generate a bill, which the TPA will verify and send to the insurer’s claim department.
The report further says that intermediaries too don't take much interest in selling a pure risk term policy. Since the term of a pure risk policy is longer, consumers tend to be more sensitive to premium amount and apply to multiple insurers before making a purchase. So for the intermediaries conversion from prospect to sale is lower.
Sources said that there is no mandate yet asking companies to offer policies to all. Insurers say this would be a challenge while underwriting a first-time buyer of say 90 as the higher risk would make the policy prohibitively expensive. Already companies are facing an issue with drop out of healthy seniors whose premium breach 20% of the sum insured once they cross 75 years.
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By abolishing the maximum age restriction on purchasing health insurance plans, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) aims to foster a more inclusive and accessible healthcare ecosystem, ensuring adequate protection against unforeseen medical expenses.
A lot of positive things have happened in the last 25 years of IRDAI. The number of companies has increased to over 70, employees in the sector have grown over 6 times, AUM has grown over 7 times and IRDAI is now more active than ever. Here's what Insurers said on IRDAI entering the silver Jubilee years:
Mistry has been associated with the company since December 2000 and is currently acting as Non-Executive Director. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and a fellow member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Mistry was the Vice Chairman & CEO of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC) Limited. Read more: