You need not shell out the big bucks to be pampered. Buy a health cover and enjoy luxury treatment at a spa, join a gymnasium or a yoga centre and get the necessary incentives that suit your budget.
Insurers, including ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co Ltd and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, are tying up with yoga centres, gyms and spas to provide policy holders an opportunity to improve their health - and looking for avenues to sell more heath covers. Some of the other insurers are also exploring collaborations with these centres.
Membership in a fitness club reduces the chances of claims from a customer, insurers said. "All this is done to incentivise people to become conscious about their health," said Sanjay Datta, the head of health at ICICI Lombard. "This is more of a preventive measure than curative."
Insurance executives said this would also add value to health products. "In order to extend the benefit of health insurance beyond claims, we have started incentivising claims...if there is no claim in a particular year then people start losing interest in insurance," said an insurance company executive.
One major incentive for insurance companies is lower claims in this area. Since the industry is facing huge underwriting losses, there are very few segments which are profitable for them.
"We can pass on the benefit of these initiatives if policyholders start taking preventive measures," said Datta. "Globally, the benefits are transferred to policyholders in terms of discount in premium. It may happen in another two years in India also."
Insurers also aim to compensate policy holders who spend on their health but don't claim from