40% of Indians buying health insurance online opt for Rs. 5 lakh cover: Policybazaar

• The study was conducted by Policybazaar.com Product & Innovation Centre (PIC) to understand the buying behavior of consumers purchasing health insurance online across 20 states

• Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Karnataka, UP & Gujarat constitute nearly 2/3rd of health insurance purchases made online

Nearly four out of ten Indians purchasing health insurance online prefer a minimum cover of Rs. 5 Lakh, a study by Policybazaar.com Product and Innovation Centre (PIC) study has revealed. The study took into account buying behavior of 10,000+ consumers purchasing health insurance online across 20 states.

The study also indicated that Indian consumers have a preference for either buying Rs. 5 lakh cover online, or if they are buying lesser or higher cover, then they have a preference for Rs. 3 lakh or Rs. 10 lakh cover. While nearly 22% of consumers surveyed opted for Rs. 3 lakh cover, Rs. 10 lakh cover was opted by more than 12% of this survey audience.

In terms of age-related findings, the study indicated that consumers falling in the age bracket of 26-45 years are the ones who are most active online in health insurance purchases, with nearly 75% of the survey audience belonging to this group, while 12% of the online sales were attributed to people between the ages of 45-60 year bracket.

Commenting on the health insurance study, Vaidyanathan Ramani, Head of Product and Innovation Centre (PIC), Policybazaar.com, said, "Healthcare costs are rising at an astronomical rate. Today, any lifestyle disease treatment costs anywhere between Rs. 3-10 lakh in a decent private hospital in the urban areas. As such, what was a Rs. 2-lakh average health cover bought two-three years back has become a Rs. 5-lakh cover today. With growing awareness around the need for having a health cover and understanding of the existing treatment costs in hospitals, we expect the Indian consumer to opt for an even bigger umbrella to ensure a better protection for their family over the next few years."

 Another major finding of the study revealed that Delhi-NCR consumers are the most active online, with nearly 25% of the purchases made by them in the overall digital health insurance landscape. Maharashtra came a close second, with almost 20% market share in health insurance purchases online. Other states featuring in the top 5 were Karnataka - 8%, UP - 7% and Gujarat - 5%.

The overall findings are based on multiple demographic factors, which include the age-bracket of consumers, top-regions contributing to the online business, sum insured size, etc. as primary factors.  

About Policybazaar.com

Policybazaar.com is India's largest insurance marketplace and a leading insurtech brand globally. It is the flagship brand of Policybazaar.com Group of companies, that owns fintech brand, Paisabazaar.com, healthtech venture, docprime.com, and lending & insurance marketplace in UAE region, Policybazaar.ae.

The Policybazaar.com Group has backing from a host of investors including the likes of Soft Bank, InfoEdge (Naukri.com), Temasek, Tiger Global Management, True North, Premji Invest, besides investments from other PE funds and family offices. Policybazaar.com started with a purpose to educate people on insurance products and has had a significant influence on how insurance is bought in India. It has helped in driving penetration of pure life insurance, health insurance, and such products which were barely bought earlier.

From receiving traffic of 1,80,000 visitors in 2008, Policybazaar.com has come a long way and today hosts over 100 million visitors yearly and records sale of nearly 300,000 transactions a month. Currently, Policybazaar.com accounts for nearly 25% of India’s life cover, and over 7% of India’s retail health business. It accounts for roughly half of all internet based insurance purchase in the country and is more than doubling annually.
 

The company has received several accolades in India and globally. The most noteworthy being recognized as India’s top and world’s leading “Fin Tech Innovator” by the Global consultancy firm, KPMG and venture capital fund, H2 Ventures for 2015 & 2016. It has won a range of awards in the last couple of years, many of them consecutively. These include The Financial Express “Best Fintech Marketplace”, Internet & Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) Digital India Award for “Best Financial Website” & “Most Innovating Insurance Service”, IDC Iconic Award for “Tech Implementation leading to Operational Excellence”, to name a few.

Disclaimer: This article has not been edited by Deccan Chronicle and is taken from a syndicated feed. Photos: NewsVoir.