TOI : Health cover: Age of senior citizens may be lowered : Oct 12, 2007
Health cover: Age of senior citizens may be lowered
Arti Sharma | TNN
Mumbai: Getting adequate health insurance is no easy task for senior
citizens. General insurance companies usually shy away from offering health
cover to those who are over 55 years of age and even renewals of
long-standing policies are often loaded with additional premiums that are as
high as 100% to 400%.
All that’s likely to change if some of the recommendations made by a
committee set up by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDA) come into force.
The committee, headed by former National Housing Bank chairman K S
Sastry, was set up to look at health insurance schemes for senior citizens.
It is expected to submit its report to IRDA soon.
To begin with, the committee is considering redefining the age of a
senior citizen from 65 years to either 55 or 50 years. This is aimed at
encouraging people to enter the policy at an early age when pre-existing
diseases are not an issue, helping to keep pricing under control.
Portability of health cover sans fine on cards?
Mumbai: One of the key recommendations of the panel set up by the Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) to look at viable health
insurance schemes for senior citizens is that insurance companies should not
have the right to deny any senior citizen a health cover. Currently, general
insurance firms cut an agents’ commission on sale or renewal of health
policies for those above 55, effectively denying this group health cover.
The committee is also looking at ways to tackle the issue of portability
of policies. Currently, if a person wants to switch to another insurance
company, he/she loses all the benefits accumulated over a period of time.
For instance, the time limit for a pre-existing disease again starts from
the day the person purchases a new policy with another insurer.
The committee is likely to recommend that senior citizens be allowed
portability without any penalty. So, if a customer wishes to change his/her
insurance company, the accumulated benefits will continue.
The reason for the lower age limit definition, sources said, was that
people who normally think of buying insurance as they grow older will be
encouraged to buy it at a slightly earlier stage when their health issues
are not already compounded. The committee will, however, also have to look
at recommending to the government that the age under the tax exemption limit
be altered, or that a caveat be added for medical insurance.