Insurance Gazette: Some discipline is needed in the healthcare ecosystem

Industry leaders speak about the learnings over the past year and the opportunities for progress that the pandemic has provided

The last 18 months have been very tough for the non-life insurance industry and, particularly, for those in the health business. The companies have had to pay claims in excess of Rs 20,000 crore for something — the pandemic — that was not factored in while designing products. Also, the huge claims outgo has resulted in general insurers’ profitability falling sharply, while for the monoline health insurers it caused a solvency scare. Having said that, the pandemic has also resulted in an unprecedented pick-up in demand for health insurance products, making it the dominant business of the non-life insurance industry.