Less than a third of policyholders have a parent cover under group insurance

The coronavirus pandemic has fueled the adoption of group health insurance policies with cover for parents among companies. These are either purely employer-sponsored covers or voluntary parental covers, with the employees deciding whether to opt for parental cover. Plum has also seen an increase in the average sum insured in its policies: from 3 lakhs As per the study, 5 lakh per family in the last two years.

While these numbers indicate a strong sense of responsibility among relatively young startups and enterprises to safeguard the health and well-being of their employees and families, this is only the beginning.

Data shows that most insured parents are in retirement age, which makes them dependent on working members for their well being. For companies that do not insure the parents of their employees, peace of mind and productivity may suffer.

India has the highest health care spending among G20 countries, which pushes about 60 million people into poverty every year (National Health Authority, 2020), meaning a chronic illness can wipe out a family’s lifetime savings. Is.

Abhishek Poddar, Co-Founder and CEO of Plum, said, “…In a country where one in five people have diabetes and the majority of the elderly have pre-existing conditions, group health insurance is the best way to expand comprehensive healthcare. Choice is there. Elderly. Availability of products is no longer a challenge but a lack of awareness. At Plum, we always advise our clients to include parenting covers and guide them on the best possible plan customized for each organization. We are seeing good results and we expect all of our clients to include parental cover.”

Inclusion of parental cover in group health insurance comes with several benefits like no age limit for parents, no pre-medical check-up required, coverage is applicable from day one and it is already existing Covers diseases. In addition, organizations can adapt policies as per their needs as per the study.

Kriti Rastogi, Director of Placement at Plum, said, “… Apart from the regular standard group health insurance plans, customers nowadays have a number of top-up plans that are affordable and easily accessible. Products like voluntary parental cover can be availed by corporates. Specifically allowing small business owners to extend health insurance to parents of employees at no hefty cost.”

About 75 million people in India over the age of 60 suffer from some form of chronic disease, according to the Longitudinal Aging Study in India (LASI) – the largest study on the elderly in the world. Health insurance penetration is lowest within this age group due to lack of awareness, access and affordability. Individual retail policies have their own restrictions for on-boarding senior citizens. Hence, it is of utmost importance to include them under group health cover to facilitate medical protection for the parents.

Plum works with over 1,500 organizations, where a significant portion are first-time buyers of group health insurance.

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