Buying health insurance? Look up these key numbers before choosing a plan

Comparing insurers on parameters like incurred claims ratio and claim settlement ratio can help you make a better choice

When buying health insurance, you should compare the policy features of various players. But a bit of number-based filtering can also help you zero in on the right company and product. Here are some of the key numbers you should look up.

Incurred claims ratio: The recently published IRDAI annual report provided the average incurred claims ratios (ICR) of various categories of insurers for 2017-18. ICR is the percentage of total claim amount paid to the total premium collected. The average for public sector general insurers was very high in 2017-18, at 109.86 per cent. Private sector general insurers came