January 30,2011 | Last update 1 day ago
RSS Feeds
Register Now!
Newsletters
The fuel mafia must go up in flames
Result analysis 3QFY11: ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank
Shree Ashtavinayak shares being rigged up again?
Why is Himachal Futuristic in the elite list of CNX S&P 500?
Justice Venkatachaliah: We are losing democracy to mobocracy
Pathbreakers
Plain Truth about Stock Investing
Plain Truths about Mutual Funds
Plain Truths about Investments
Submit your comments
Bharti Axa Genereal Insurance Co. has not accepted Bharti Airtel's Group Health Policy!
(Pvt. Cos. are not offering policies even to their parent Cos. if there is no profit!!)
Dr Amarnath Ananthanarayanan, CEO and MD, Bharti AXA General Insurance, says that hospital frauds are more prevalent than
policyholder frauds; and car thefts, not accidents, are the biggest predicament confronting companies that offer motor insurance
policyholder frauds; and car thefts, not accidents, are the biggest predicament confronting companies that offer motor insurance
Dr Ananthanarayanan wants to move his company from being a mere product player to providing more tailor-made innovative solutions, while keeping an eye on the uninsured segment in India. The company has reached Rs500 crore in gross premium underwritten in its second full year of operations. It has focussed on growing aggressively at 152% (09-10), and it now aims to double its health and personal accident insurance businesses. Currently, motor insurance is 70% of Bharti AXA's portfolio .
Moneylife (ML): Many insurers have started enforcing 24-hour intimation to Third Party Administrators (TPAs) or insurers whenever hospitalisation is required. What is Bharti AXA's stand on this?
Amarnath Ananthanarayanan (AA): We take a 180-degree view on this. In situations like the floods in Andhra Pradesh, we called our customers. For health insurance, after we get a call from the policyholder or his family, we have dedicated tele-callers who keep in touch to proactively help customers with paperwork, cashless (reimbursements) and so on. It (the intimation) need not be within 24 hours, as the (specific) circumstances of a customer are also taken into account. The time limit varies for different policies. Even though a policyholder may commit a fraud, there are more cases of fraud from hospitals, especially smaller ones. We remove these errant hospitals from our panel. For example, a hospital can treat a customer by giving him water instead of saline. We have service-level agreements, monitoring mechanisms with hospitals and offer cashless facilities at 3,600 plus hospitals in India, including major hospitals in metros. Customer service should not be impacted.
ML: PSU insurers have got Jaslok Hospital on their Preferred Provider Network (PPN) after negotiating the rates. Will you also be reworking rates with hospitals?
AA: I cannot comment on a specific company. Apart from the rates, the (quality of) service given to a customer is important. What is the value-add for the customer? If the customer is not happy, it does not help. It is about the insurer and hospital rate negotiation. How does a customer benefit from it? We believe in maintaining a service differentiator for customers. The renegotiation of rates is an ongoing process.
ML: How has been your experience with TPAs? Have they been able to negotiate rates with hospitals?
AA: We have increased our TPA count from 8 to 11. It is about their sphere of influence in a place or hospital. Sometimes, a customer going in for group insurance wants certain TPAs. It is all about the customer. The TPA concept is not bad. If we think about them as being an extended arm of the company to provider service to customers, as has been promised, then it is just like outsourcing. The insurer and hospital conflict is global. If one goes only by the insurance policy, the prices will be higher.
ML: TPAs are supposed to bring down prices-look at the example of the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) in the West. What are your comments on this?
AA: India is an immature market which will take five years to stabilise. It is an ongoing process that depends on purchasing power, volumes of business and so on. The relation has to be managed so that either party is not affected.
ML: How much business does your group health segment provide? What has been Bharti AXA's experience with claims ratio?
AA: Group health is 80% of our health insurance business. We have AXA Business Services, Bharti AXA Life and so on. We are not in the rate game and are selective in choosing our groups. We have not underwritten for Bharti Airtel. We are not running for business. If the deal is good and the pricing is right, we will go for the business. Going ahead, we want to focus on retail insurance. The loss ratio is lower in retail. Overall, claims ratio for health and motor insurance is around 73%. The motor insurance claims ratio is coming down.
ML: How much is your expected growth in the health portfolio, and what are the trends that you are witnessing in premium and service levels?
AA: We expect to grow 100% in the health portfolio. Our group insurance premium can go up by 20% to 30%, but individual health premium is not expected to rise. In general, the health insurance industry will see an increase in deductibles, co-payments to keep up with rising health care expenses.
ML: How do you price motor insurance? We checked out the rate offered by Bharti AXA for a Honda City; it was very low compared to your competitors.
AA: We have sold over 4 lakh policies last year. We have data to understand trends using complex algorithms run on an SAS platform. The pricing is based on car make, model, year, place, and so on. We cannot share the trends from the data. If there are good customers for the parameters we analyse, the rates go down and vice-versa. The challenge is more from car thefts rather than accidents. The northern region of India is more loss-prone. Security features in the car will help to reduce premium.
ML: We have come across a case where a Bharti AXA agent was giving a maximum discount of 40%, while the dealer was offering a 50% discount. Your comments...
AA: We have approval for 50%(discount) from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). But there are internal channel conflicts that we have to manage. There is market dynamics at play. If I were to dictate price, then the entire flexibility of price versus volume goes away. There are different products, different add-ons and hence different pricing. There can be differential rates from agents due to competition. The intermediaries are also interested in how much more money they can make. They can offer lower rates with more volumes or target a higher rate with lower volumes. This is standard market practice in a de-tariffed environment.
ML: What are the new products in the pipeline; how many are waiting for IRDA approval?
AA: The insurance industry has the scope to come out with lifestyle protection products (home, car EMI payment), OPD (outpatient) products, personal accident insurance for the youth, global student insurance, travel insurance, and so on.
We have innovative products for motor insurance, like an invoice price cover that protects the invoice price of a car. We plan to come out with 'residual value insurance' to protect the resale price of a car; a 'pay as you go' cover to lower the insurance based on the actual usage of a car. Retirement is another segment of interest. We have not done actuarial calculation, but one product could be payment of premium during the working period of the life of an insured person for him to avail medical benefits after retirement till death. People have company insurance that will not last after retirement. This product can pay before retirement with high deductibles, but the real benefits kick in after retirement.
ML: Any plans for the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) schemes and how do you see their profitability? Are there any other schemes planned for the underserved segment in India?
AA: RSBY is winning the bid. It is profitable in some states. The first few years are good, but the final few years can be a strain. We want to focus on the underserved customers; not just the middle and upper classes. Micro-insurance is important for protection against a debt trap. There is a need for educating the people on its importance. We are looking at products like children's education fund to compensate children's education on death/permanent disability of insured. (Schemes like) the girl child's marriage fund, ration allowance and livestock allowance are on similar lines.
ML: How can the government's forthcoming budget help insurance customers?
AA: Reduction in service tax will help. Healthcare costs are rising rapidly and hence subsidised hospital infrastructure will eventually help to lower medical costs.
ML: Please explain to us your company's technology initiatives for improving customer service.
AA: We have launched 'eMotor' to provide instant policy issuance at dealers, intermediaries and branches. A payment gateway is being set up for issuing health insurance policies over the phone. The next level will be Internet transactions to buy/renew insurance policies and application of mobile technology, among others.
ML: Have you taken up any bancassurance initiatives?
AA: We have tied up with a few cooperative banks. We have also tied up with the Karnataka State Cooperative Society Ltd (KSICL) to offer customised insurance solutions to rural Karnataka. We have not tied up with any big bank.
ML: How do you see your overall growth in the coming years?
AA: We had focussed on growing aggressively at 152% (09-10), but we have lowered our target to 60%. The top-line has not been a concern for us as revenues have been more than anticipated. We had to curtail our growth plans to 160 cities instead of 200. We want to move from being a product player to providing innovative solutions and get our portfolio right. We will target higher growth next year.
Source: MoneyLife
No comments:
Post a Comment