We Encourage Policyholders To Maintain Their Blood Sugar Via Physical Activities: Vijay Sinha

What key trends do you see playing out in the Health Insurance space, especially with the launch of PMJAY?

With the PMJAY, we definitely anticipate an increase in the awareness of health insurance in India. While there are public and private players offering various forms of health insurance today, the government’s push for universal healthcare bodes well for the bottom of the pyramid and provides them with some form of health coverage.

As increasingly consumers start believing in the promise of health insurance to be a positive financial planning tool, we also foresee an increase in the demand for higher sum insured.

As Health Insurance products become more and more standardized, how do you plan to differentiate your offering?

COCO by DHFL General Insurance prides itself in being a company that exists to help people care, preserve and thus have more of what they care about, and hence our tagline

– Care More. Have More. Our products are being created and offered based on the need of customers. For example, we offer policies with coverages that include Orphan Benefit, Skill Development, Mobility Aids Allowance, Adventure Sports, Emergency Evacuation / Repatriation and Loss of Job. Moreover, we empower the customer choose their own coverage by providing them adequate knowledge. This is an industry first feature

Over the past few years, IRDAI has been moving towards standardization in health insurance to provide a clearer, more succinct comprehension of policies for customers. This is a welcome move.

What’s your take on the recent IRDAI circular that aims to standardize exclusions and make products more insured-friendlier?

This is an excellent move by the IRDAI which a customer centric approach is, however data for pricing will be required and the cost of the product may go up.

This step by the IRDAI will create a better level playing field for all. The circular seeking to standardize exclusions across the board will help in simpler product consideration during the purchase process.

Diabetes related claims have gone up significantly in recent times. As an insurer, do you cover diabetes?

Our group health insurance policy certainly does include diabetes-related treatment expenses. According to a 2017 report by the Indian Council for Medical Research, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and the Public Health Foundation of India, the prevalence of diabetes has increased by 64 percent across India over the quarter-century. The International Diabetes Federation has projected that the number of Indians with diabetes will soar to 123 million by 2040. Currently, 5% of the Indian population suffers from diabetes.

In our health policies, we encourage policyholders to maintain their blood sugar levels through active lifestyle regimes such as physical exercise. We also advise diabetics to follow healthy food habits, pursue appropriate nutritional levels to control weight and thereby avoid obesity, as that can lead to the further complications.

Some of the features our health insurance policies provide  include  Health  Risk Assessment, Disease Management – Reward Based, Stay Fit – Reward Based. .

You have just entered the retail segment with motor insurance products. Tell us about your products and plans for this space.

In August this year we launched our first retail policy – COCORide, a comprehensive two- wheeler insurance policy that can be tailored to suit one’s exact needs. COCORide offers customers the option to choose from 12 add-on covers, the highest available in the market. Apart from Zero-Dep, Engine-Protect, Consumables Cover, Roadside Assistance, New-Vehicle-For-Old and Enhanced PA Cover, customers can avail of EMI Protection as well as Outstanding Loan Protection covers as add-ons.

Our second retail product - COCODrive, is the first fully à la carte online comprehensive four-wheeler insurance policy. Customers can choose from 19 add-ons as per their specific needs. Add-ons range from the ever popular ‘Zero Dep Cover’ and ‘New Car for Old Car’ to ‘Key & Lock Replacement’ and NCB Secure, to non-standard add-ons such as enhanced owner, occupant and paid driver personal accident cover, EMI Protector and Outstanding Loan Protector. COCODrive is also the only product to offer an enhanced personal accident cover that can go up to Rs. 35 lakhs.

While buying either COCORide or COCODrive policies online, our AI (Artificial Intelligence) and Machine Learning solutions will provide visitors with hyper-localized and customized suggestions, as well as content that is built around each person’s profile, to enhance the buying process.

What’s your channel and distribution strategy in brief?
At DHFL General Insurance we wish to reimagine insurance and technology and become a dominant InsureTech entity in the country. By using machine learning, we will take the insurance buying experience to the next level. Based on algorithms, we plan to recommend the best plans, along with the flexibility to customize the policies our customers pick.

While the offline model will never really be completely extinct since people value advise and face to face interaction. So, we shall sell digitally through these arms partners which will help us multiply our reach.

Lastly, please tell us about some of your key business goals for the next fiscal year.

Our growth drivers for the year include our product strategy that aims to demystify insurance with transparent products. The second driver for our business is the focus we have placed on technology and digitized processes with an at-the-fingertip presence at both point of sales, and servicing. The third growth driver is our lean and responsive organization structure. The company plans to maintain a healthy growth rate and aims to break even in shortest possible time.