Policybazaar study: Millennials prefer buying Rs 5 lac+ health cover

A recent survey conducted by Policybazaar.com indicates that millennials between the age-group of 22-35 years have a better assessment of their protection needs when it comes to buying health covers which shields them adequately.

The survey reveals an increasing number of millennials i.e. about 6 out of 10 are opting for health plans with higher sum insured in upwards of Rs 5 lakh up to 1 crore. The survey took into account the buying behaviour of 10,000 plus millennials purchasing health insurance policies across 15 states in India.

The study suggests the proportion of policies bought by millennials with the sum insured of 10L and beyond has more than doubled in the past 5 years, surging from 8.4 per cent to 17.8 per cent. Meanwhile, the Rs 5 lakh health cover has today become the new Rs 3 lakh mark for millennials, as nearly a whopping 41 per cent of them are going for this sum insured.

The survey also indicates that proportion of health covers purchased by millennials with sum insured of Rs 5 lakhs up to less than 10 lakh has experienced a growth of 20 per cent in the last 5 years The data clearly depicts how millennials today have prioritised purchasing a bigger coverage to protect themselves from future health problems arising from their existing lifestyle.

The latest trend of shifting preference towards buying policies with higher sum insured is in sharp contrast to the millennial buying trends five years back, when Rs 3 lakhs and 2 lakhs were the most sought after health cover marks. The survey indicates a dip in the total proportion of policies bought with the lower sum insured.

While the drop in the share of policies bought with SI of less than Rs 3 lakh is 38 per cent, for those with SI between Rs 3 to less than 5 lakh is 22 per cent. The changing trend clearly establishes how millennials today are wary of the risks that the existing lifestyle poses on their health and hence better understand the importance of protection against diseases.

In terms of age-related findings, the proportion of health covers with SI of 10 lakh and beyond bought by millennials in the age bracket of 22-25 years has gone up from 4.7 per cent to 16.8 per cent in the past 5 years.

Similarly, the share of policies bought with SI in the range of Rs 5 lakh to less than 10 lakhs also witnessed a growth of 13 per cent, 28 per cent and 17 per cent across the 3-age groups respectively. This buying behaviour clearly denotes how millennials today are prudent and mindful of their own health protection needs.

"A sudden medical emergency at any point in time poses a huge threat to one's accumulated corpus if he/she doesn't have an adequate health cover. Keeping this in mind, buying health insurance while you are young is not only affordable but also makes sure that you stay financially secured against any medical emergency. With medical inflation rising at a double-digit pace, millennials are now looking for health insurance plans with higher sum insured and add-ons like global coverage, OPD covers, and maternity cover to make the policy way more comprehensive", said Amit Chhabra, Health Insurance, Business Unit Head, Policybazaar.com.

While focusing on city-wide trend another major finding of the study revealed that millennials of Delhi-NCR are the highest contributors to health insurance policies with higher sum insured. Nearly, 29 per cent of all health policies with higher SI has been bought by millennials in the last 5 years across the age group of 22-35 years.

Bengaluru ranks second with a 9 per cent market share in terms of health policies bought over the last 5 years. Among Tier-2 cities, Ahmedabad and Jaipur are the leading cities where millennials have purchased maximum health plans from the year 2014 to 2019.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.