Employees ready to pay for insurance facilitated by employer

Insurance provided by employer offers better coverage, claim recovery and cost efficiency

Employees are willing to pay for additional insurance if it is provided by their employers. This is because employer facilitated insurance offers better coverage, efficiency in cost and better claim recovery. This was the key theme of Marsh India's 9th annual Employee Health and Benefits Survey.

According to the survey, 92 per cent of the employees were willing to share premium costs and buy voluntary plans offered to them by their employers. The survey was conducted among 500 corporates and over 2,000 employees. It included employees for the first time this year.

Of the total employees who were surveyed, 33 per cent were willing to spend 1-2 per cent and another 37 per cent were willing to spend 3-5 per cent of their annual salaries on voluntary insurance plans.

Top-plans in health insurance and term life is one big focus area for employees. Another area which saw high demand was coverage for outpatient department and parents. Almost 83 per cent of employees also said they are looking to customise their insurance offered by employer such as increasing room rent and maternity limits. There is also increasing demand for voluntary programmes to cover assets like car or house and travel insurance, provided it is facilitated by the employer.

"The average sum insured for medical insurance provided to employees was Rs 3 lakh. It has now increased to Rs 3.5 lakh. Similarly, the average limit on room rent was Rs 3,000. It has now increased to Rs 4,000. But even these are inadequate because of greater utilisation," said Sanjay Kedia, Country Head and CEO of Marsh India.

In case of parents coverage, 100 per cent employee funded coverage is on a decline, but partly funded parent coverage is increasing. The percentage of employers who provide 100 per cent sponsored parents' coverage is now 35 per cent, as against 41 per cent last year, said the survey. But the percentage of companies that facilitate parents coverage has increased to 80 per cent from 76 per cent last year.

"Employees want to leverage the buying power of corporates. So, companies in turn are asking insurance companies for specific enhancements in coverage. For instance, features like coverage for women, medical advancements like robotic surgery, chronic conditions etc in medical insurance," Kedia said.