Among India's leading health insurance players, Max Bupa, on Monday announced the launch of Max Bupa AnyTimeHealth (ATH) machines to propel health insurance penetration in the country.
The ATH is Max Bupa's innovative new technology-based solution that will allow customers to run instant health assessment and buy health insurance cover, in just 180 seconds.
Revolutionizing the way people buy health insurance in India by simplifying the insurance purchase journey, Max Bupa ATH machines will let customers initiate their health assessment, choose the right health insurance plan for themselves, and walk away with the policy document all in three minutes.
"Health insurance has almost become a necessity in India with the growing incidence of lifestyle diseases but the overall penetration is still quite low with close to 80 percent of the Indian population still not covered under any form of health insurance. The Indian health insurance industry needed something disruptive to ensure health cover reaches every Indian," said MD & CEO, Max Bupa, Ashish Mehrotra.
"With the Max Bupa ATH machines we aim to democratize health by addressing the key issues and challenges faced by Indians on their buying journey. While we anticipate greater penetration for health insurance overall with the innovation, we also expect the Max Bupa ATH machines to increase our Bancassurance throughput by 2.5X and become an independent sales channel in the next three to five years, comprising 15 percent - 20 percent of our total digital sales," added Mehrotra.
Looking at the severe under-penetration of health insurance in India, the ATH machines have been designed for customers who find health insurance buying either too complicated, or do not find the time or motivation to insure something as important as their health.
Max Bupa's AnyTimeHealth is a completely automated, technology-based model with a simple interface that offers a comprehensive awareness-to-purchase journey, overcoming the procrastination hurdle experienced by many Indians.
The five simple steps a first-time user needs to follow include registration using their email ID and phone number, followed by non-intrusive health assessment, automated health insurance policy recommendation based on details entered and test output, instant payment, and instant policy issuance.
At this stage, customers will be able to perform non-intrusive health assessment covering Body Mass Index, Blood Pressure, Body Type and Fat percent, Muscle percent, Bone Mass, Body Temperature, Hydration level and Blood Oxygen percent; and buy the policy instantly.
ATHs are built on a scalable technology platform, and the future versions of ATHs will be reimagined as end-to-end customer service systems based on Max Bupa's product and servicing requirements.
The upgraded versions of the ATHs will service retail customers 24x7 and will be online to offer more customized and personalized health insurance plans. These machines may also offer Artificial Intelligence (AI) based interventions.
As per the Max Bupa Pulse survey conducted in early 2017, people are moving towards digital mediums and platforms for buying and renewing health insurance.
While 47 percent of the respondents confirmed opting for online platforms for renewing health insurance, 13 percent said they would go to online platforms for purchasing health insurance.
Max Bupa's is a much needed technology application that simplifies health tracking and decision making for customers.
It is a result of thorough analysis of the obstacles towards health insurance penetration in India and aim to address the challenges of awareness (of one's health and the need for health insurance), accessibility (of a genuine advisor and policy issuer), and serviceability (end-to-end experience) among Indians through technology.
The ATH machines will be introduced in the market through the company's Bancassurance partners - such as Bank of Baroda, giving Max Bupa access to potentially 20 percent of the banked Indians.
In the first phase, 20 ATH machines will be installed at partner banks' branches, across multiple cities.
Through the next few months, Max Bupa will focus on gathering customer inputs, feedback, and performance data to enhance services/offerings through the systems.
In the next 12-15 months, Max Bupa has plans to install multiple ATH machines across retail locations such as malls, societies/ RWAs, airport lounges, hotels etc.
Max Bupa expects its ATH machines to drive the next phase of growth for the health insurance industry.
The ATH machines have been designed by Max Bupa, in partnership with Yolo Health, a health tech startup.
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