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Private sector Reliance General Insurance today said it plans to roll out a health insurance next month for independent woman and girl child at a discount, as part of its effort to empower women.
"Reliance Healthgain would offer pricing benefits of up to 5% on the total family premium in case of the addition of a girl child. We will also extend pricing benefits to single women and widows," Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance said here.
"The objective of this initiative is to support healthcare needs of women and empower them," he added.
The beauty of the scheme is that a special discount of 5% can be availed by a female proposer on the entire policy premium which would cover the family of the policy holder, he said, adding, this discount could be availed in case a girl child is included in the floater plan.
Citing the other benefits of the product, he said, under the new health insurance offering, delay in policy issuance as per defined turnaround will guarantee additional sum insured to customers. Similarly, any delay in claim settlement will attract additional financial compensation to customers.
Reliance General Insurance, a part of Reliance Capital, targets to cover four lakh lives in the first year of the product launch.
"About 20% of workforce in India is woman and out of which only 2% end up having healthcare protection on their own. In order to increase the penetration of health insurance in the segment, we have taken this strategic step," he said.
Health insurance accounts for only 10% of overall USD 30 billion (about Rs 1,80,000 crore) healthcare spends in India.
Increasing its focus on the health insurance, Reliance General Insurance recorded 110% growth in health insurance premium at Rs 169 crore in the first quarter ended June 30.
As part of change in its business strategy, the company intends to reduce the dependence on motor insurance and raise health insurance segment going forward.
"Our strategy to change business and product mix, optimise use of technology, manage costs and expand our retail agent base has helped us achieve a significant turnaround in performance," he said.
During the first quarter, Jain said the company has registered 25% increase in its gross written premium at Rs 706 crore as against Rs 564 crore in the same period a year ago.
