The shallow reach of health insurance among Indians has always been a matter of concern. Huge patient load in government hospitals and largely unregulated and high prices in private hospitals further add to the worries. The government although, has been taking necessary steps to address these issues with significant improvements in insurance coverage in the past decade.
According to data sourced from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), 35.90 crore Indians were covered by health insurance in 2015-16 up by 24% from previous year’s 28.80 crore. In 2015-16 health insurance companies also collected ₹24,448 crore in premiums, up by 21.7% from the previous year. This is also the highest year-on-year growth in premium in the last five years.
The above figures are inclusive of the people covered under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY). The scheme that is originally targeted at migrant workers operates in 398 districts in 19 states with 4.13 crore families enrolled in it. The premium amount varies depending on the state and the scheme provides a cover of ₹1 lakh to every target family.
If industry experts are to be believed then these numbers will grow in the future. At the current pace of development, the premium collections are expected to exceed ₹50,000 crore by 2020. Factors such as wellness, innovation, new health regulations, and customer centricity will be the main drivers of growth.
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