New India Assurance, having surged 50% in the past five trading sessions, has opted for an annual revision of health insurance premiums, moving away from the previous practice of increasing tariffs every three years.
After a 25-30% increase in retail health insurance premiums in June, the first in six years, the company, initially slated for revisions in 2020 after a three-year gap, deferred its decision due to the pandemic. Neerja Kapur, chairman and managing director of New India Assurance, told analyststhat the insurer is looking to ease the impact on policyholders by implementing smaller, annual increases rather than a substantial adjustment once every three years.
Kapur said the increase in premium is due to a spike in medical inflation and health claims frequency. She said that health claims frequency has gone up due to Covid complications. Also, surgery costs have risen at hospitals during Covid pandemic and remained at elevated levels.
