Star Health pilots insurance policy for rural customers

Buoyed by a compounded annual growth rate of 36 per cent in gross premium collection over the last four-five years, standalone health insurer Star Health Insurance plans to expand its horizon by opening 300 more outlets in the next few months.

“Our innovative products, easier settlement and highest hospital network for cashless treatment have made our company the fastest growing among the standalone health insurance companies,” says V Jagannathan, Chairman and Managing Director of the company.

It currently has 720 branches and close to 6,600 network hospitals across the country. With the proposed branches, it will become a 1,000-branch network, and will double this number in the next financial year.

To coincide with its expansion plan, it will launch a rural healthcare policy – Star Care with an annual premium of less than Rs.2,000 for an insured sum of Rs.1 lakh a year. As an added advantage, if the insured is admitted to a government hospital, the company will pay Rs.1,000 a day for the insured during the period of hospitalisation.

The company is currently piloting this in pockets of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

“At a time when average annual health insurance premium hovers around Rs.7,000, Star Care, we hope, will be well received in the market,” Jagannathan said.

For the year 2013-14, Star Health registered gross premium collection of Rs.1,090 crore, up from Rs.860 crore in the previous year. With Rs.552 crore topline so far this year, Star Health leads the pack of standalone health insurance companies. In addition to the organic growth, 32,138 policyholders migrated to Star Health from other insurance companies so far this year. “ The outward migration stands at 6,692.”

Besides, the total claims ratio has come down to 60 per cent so far this year, from about 65 per cent last year, which is an indication that the company may make underwriting profit this year, he said.

“With a target of closing the year with Rs.1,500 crore premium collection, we intend to expand our branch network into tier-II and tier-III cities to tap the huge potential in those markets,” he said.

Health insurance penetration in India is still low and there are plenty of opportunities for growth, said Jagannathan, who was formerly CMD of public sector giant United India Insurance Company. Business Line