Nearly 62% Health Insurance Policyholders Saw Their Premiums Increase: LocalCircles

IANS 25 August 2022

A survey on health insurance facilities in the country has disclosed that nearly 62% health insurance policyholders surveyed saw their premiums increase by 25% or more in 2022.

The survey conducted by community platform Local Circles disclosed that of the 62%, 38% of them saw their premiums increase by 50%. The increases came on the back of a significant increase in premiums in 2021.

As per the survey, nearly 38% out of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the question on "how much has your annual insurance increased in the last 12 months," said they had paid 50% or more, while 24% citizens had paid 25% - 50% higher premiums and 11% had seen their health insurance premium go up by 10%-25%, another 9% paid 0% - 10% higher premium. Only 18%, either did not have to shell out more or witnessed a dip in insurance premium or were unaware as their employer is taking care of it.

From the response to the Local Circles survey this year compared to that done in August 2021, it is very clear that the magnitude of the increase in premium has caught many unaware. Last year, while the percentage of respondents who experienced an increase of over 25% in health insurance premiums was 34%, this year that number has jumped to 62%. Overall, an average Indian, after experiencing a 10% increase in 2021 is now experiencing an average increase of 25%. Many senior citizens with independent policies are reporting a much higher increase of over 50% which is putting a squeeze on their retirement finances at a time when costs of most products like fuel and essentials are all rising.

According to external estimates as well, after the COVID pandemic, health insurance premiums have increased anywhere between 10%-25% for a number of reasons cited by insurance providers including high payouts during the past two years.

After thousands of posts and comments were received pertaining to the sizable increase in health insurance premiums by LocalCircles, it decided to conduct a national survey to quantify the pain of citizens and to understand the increase in health insurance premiums at an aggregate level.

The study, which collected over 20,000 responses in two periods of August 2021 and August 2022 from citizens located in 287 districts of India, asked people about the increase in health insurance premiums they experienced.

Disclaimer: Information, facts or opinions expressed in this news article are presented as sourced from IANS and do not reflect views of Moneylife and hence Moneylife is not responsible or liable for the same. As a source and news provider, IANS is responsible for accuracy, completeness, suitability and validity of any information in this article.

Comments

User

Kamal Garg

1 year ago

So, effectively health insurance companies keep on increasing their premium every now and then pleading various health claims as well as internal/system inefficiencies.

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