Health insurance premium doubles to Rs 7,800 cr in FY10

New Delhi, Feb 15 (PTI) Boosted by rising number ofcustomers, premium collection by health insurance firms almostdoubled to Rs 7,803 crore in the last fiscal year-on-year,even as claim payments shot up.

Premium collection in 2008-09 was Rs 3,976 crore.

Meanwhile, payment towards claim settlements by insurancefirms rose by about 82.5 per cent to Rs 7,456 crore last yearover 2008-09, as per the data released by InsuranceInformation Bureau (IIB).

Similarly, the number of policy holders too increased to68,84,687 in the last fiscal from 45,75,725 in 2008-09.

With health insurance portability set to be launchedfrom July 1, the sector is set to witness increasedcompetition.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority hasissued guidelines for health insurance portability, wherebyone can switch service providers without compromising onpolicy terms. The customers are also expected to getwell-priced policies and better quality services.

As many as 8,16,793 policy holders in the age group of41-60 years claimed insurance, followed by 7,87,621 persons inin the age bracket of 26-40 years in 2009-10. The datarevealed that parents of children below the age of one yearmade 4,87,288 claims and the firms paid Rs 1,713 crore towardsthe same.

Further, people suffering from circulatory, digestive,urology, eye and infection problems topped the list of healthinsurance claimants. A total of 32,63,597 insurance claimswere made in the last fiscal.

The IIB said the data is based on information receivedfrom third party administrators (TPAs) and insurers.

Besides, three standalone health insurers -- Star Health