The eleventh edition of the annual FICCI Health Insurance Conference recently concluded on 11th March 2019 at New Delhi. The central theme for this year’s Conference was Health Insurance 2.0: Enabling Change’. Dr Subhash C Kuntia, Chairman, IRDAI inaugurated the conference in the august presence of Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO – National Health Authority; Secretary – Government of India along with other key government and industry stalwarts.
The one-day conference was attended by over 200 delegates and brought together various stakeholders of the health insurance ecosystem encompassing health insurers, government officials, policy makers, academicians, representatives of embassies and multilateral agencies, all under one roof. It also provided an interactive platform for policy deliberations by eminent speakers drawn from both Government as well as Industry.
Discussions during the conference were centred around key change enablers for the health insurance industry as well as the regulatory roadmap in Health insurance 2.0 landscape. Ways to embrace the digital transformation in the sector, with the use of new technologies such as AI and Big Data and their impact on the industry as well as on the consumer behaviour were discussed. The conference focused on healthcare start-ups that have proven to be a game-changer through creativity and innovation and the need for creating an ecosystem where traditional companies can collaborate and co-exists with these new age start-ups and deliver a stronger value proposition to the end user.
‘Health Insurance 2.0: Enabling Change’
Digital transformation has revolutionizing every aspect of our lives in the past few years. Health insurance sector, the fastest growing non-life insurance sector in the country, is already at a fast-track with the use of digital technologies. Whether it is discovery and comparison of products, or distribution and after sales, we are adopting technology like never before.
The impact is not only on the industry, but also on the consumer behaviour, his attention span, preferred mode of communication or access to information. Further, health tech start-ups have proven to be a game-changer, through creativity and innovation, with their cost-effective solutions to deliver health service to consumers home. Thus, making the industry undergo a major race to adapt to these digital changes and win the customer with new and better offerings. The health insurance industry is also witnessing some significant structural changes, like 27 new age start-ups and organization getting a license to start their operations.
Contributing on these lines, the Regulator is also working on enabling the adoption of technological developments into the products offered by insurance companies. At the same time, with the launch of Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, world’s largest government funded health financing scheme, the health insurance sector is set to face a paradigm shift.
Hence, the industry today is at the cusp, where the traditional existing giants are exploring how to embrace this shift with swiftness and agility of the new age start-ups. There is an urgent need to create an ecosystem where all these players can co-exist and deliver a stronger value proposition to the end user.
The inaugural session witnessed Keynote Address by Dr Indu Bhushan, CEO, National Health Authority; Secretary, Government of India who gave an outline of the Ayushman Bharat scheme and the way forward to achieve Universal Health Coverage. He further emphasised the need for joint efforts of Public and Private companies along with Government and the Regulator for the successful implementation of Universal Health Coverage in India.
Dr Subhash C Khuntia, Chairman, IRDAI in his inaugural address mentioned the importance of Health and Education in the modern society. He spoke about the need of standardization of rates in the health insurance industry and mentioned about the decreasing Healthy Life Expectancy, for which he asked the health insurance companies to focus on increasing the same by motivating people to remain fit through introduction of new and innovative products. Dr Khuntia also emphasised on the need to control fraud, misuse in the industry and the scope of growth of the sector.
Mr Antony Jacob Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Committee and Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director, Apollo Munich Health Insurance delivered the theme address. Ms. Shobha Mishra Ghosh, Assistant Secretary General, FICCI moderated the inaugural session.
CEO’s Session: Health Insurance 2.0: Enabling Change
Mr A V Girija Kumar, Chairman-Cum-Managing Director, The Oriental Insurance Co. Ltd., chaired the session and it was moderated by Mr Girish Rao, Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Committee and Chairman & Managing Director, Vidal Healthcare. Mr Prasun Sikdar, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Committee and Managing Director & CEO, Cigna TTK Health Insurance, Ms. Sheena Chabbra, Senior Health Specialist, Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice, South Asia Region, The World Bank, Dr. Sanjeev Bagai, Vice Chairman & Director, Manipal Hospital, Delhi and Mr Ramachandran Narasimhamurthy, General Manager, Samsung Research Institute were the prominent panel members.
The session was based on the broad theme of Health Insurance 2.0. The discussions brought together the perspectives of all key stakeholders in the health insurance sector – Providers, Insurers, TPAs, Health Tech start-ups – to discuss what “Health Insurance 2.0” looks like, and how customized and innovative products are the future of the Health Insurance Industry.
The deliberations included ways through which technology is changing the health insurance sector, with innovative initiatives like Health ATMs that are changing the consumer experience. The discussions also revolved around the role of Ayushman Bharat and how it has opened the scope for innovative and customised products for the Indian market. The role of data analytics and how digital health records will help in making customised and consumer friendly products was also discussed.
Session -2 Regulation 2.0: Role of Regulator for Insurance Next!
The session chaired by Mr Suresh Mathur, Executive Director, IRDAI, and moderated by Mr Antony Jacob, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Committee; Chief Executive Officer & Whole Time Director, Apollo Munich Health Insurance brought together the regulator and the industry to deliberate on the role of regulator in Health Insurance 2.0
The discussions revolved around the role of regulator in the changing landscape of the health insurance industry and challenges in regulating the new age products and digital initiatives. The need of defining new norms for data privacy and re-defining digital distribution was also discussed. Panellists deliberated the need of raising the consumer awareness to prevent frauds and to increase the supply side of Health Insurance.
It was also suggested to look at the International best practices in the regulations of health insurance and how the countries like US and Australia has brought new regulations to deal with the new age technologies and products. Mr. Joydeep Roy, Partner & Leader-Insurance, PWC, Prof Sanjay Kinra, Professor, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, University of London and Member NICE, Ms DeeptiBhaskaran, Editor, Personal Finance, Mint Newspaper, Ms Arya Tripathy, Principal Associate, PSA Legal were the prominent panellists of this round .
Session -3 Health Tech 2.0: At the Point of Sale / At the Point of Care
Mr Mayank Bathwal, Co-Chair, FICCI Health Insurance Committee and Chief Executive Officer, Aditya Birla Health Insurance Co. Ltd., moderated the session.
Ms Anika Aggarwal, Senior Vice President and Head-Marketing, Digital and Direct Sales, Max Bupa Health Insurance, Mr Shivkumar Shankar , Managing Director, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Prof (Dr) Abhijit K Chattoraj, Professor & Chairperson, PGDM (Insurance Business Management), Birla Institute of Management Technology, Mr Shailesh Prithani, Co-Founder and CEO, Doxperand Dr Gaurav Thukral, EVP and Chief Operating Officer, HealthCare at Home India participated in the panel discussion. The deliberations in the session revolved around the impact of big-data on health insurance and how to eliminate information asymmetry between payors and providers in Health Insurance 2.0. The panel discussed the role of Health Tech in increasing the penetration for health insurance.
The panellists mentioned the importance of creating awareness amongst the consumer and show them the worth of purchasing health insurance. The use of health tech in achieving the cost-efficient products and taking it to the end consumer we also discussed.
The new age initiatives such as home healthcare, telemedicine and remote care uses lesser resources and infrastructure and with use of technology they provide a new set of data points which were not available earlier.
Session -4 Growth 2.0: New Markets, Products
Dr Narottam Puri, Advisor, FICCI Health Services Committee; Board Member & Former Chairman, NABH; Advisor – Medical Operations Fortis Healthcare and Chairman, Fortis Medical Council chaired the session.
Mr Ashok Kakkar, Chair, FICCI Swastha Bharat Task Force and Senior Managing Director, Varian Medical Systems International India, Ms Malti Jaswal, Senior Consultant, World Bank, Mr Kapil Mehta, Co-Founder, SecureNow Insurance Broker, Ms Smita Bhosale, Head, Market Insights, Marico and Ms Anuradha Sriram, Chief Actuary, Aditya Birla Health Insurance formed the panel.
In this session, the panellists discussed strategies that can define the growth of the sector in Health Insurance 2.0. The discussions focussed on the potential of growth in the industry that is already moving beyond mere hospitalization coverage to more comprehensive policies that promote wellness and preventive care. The new opportunities of getting first time buyers to buy health insurance by innovating the emerging segments like dental, mental health, outpatient, cosmetic, AIDs etc. were discussed.
Apart from these, to generate impetus, the need of the industry to strategize on simplifying the processes for buying and renewing as well as invest in market expansion by increasing awareness through communication platforms similar to “Mutual Fund – Sahihain!”.
The panellists further highlighted the need of customised and inexpensive product for the Indian market. The learnings from FMCG industry to cater the lower income group population were shared.
