Antony Jacob New Health Plan from Apollo Munich Insurance

Apollo Munich Health Insurance, a joint venture between Apollo Hospitals Group, Deutsche Krankenversicherung (Munich), a leading health insurer in Europe, launched ‘Maxima’, a unique 360 degree health plan in Chennai.

Initially, Maxima would be available in six cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata.
In the subsequent years it would be introduced into new markets with a network of providers.

‘We are sure that Maxima is the best product which covers the policy- holders and their family in all aspects by giving benefits in health insurance when compared to other companies’ products.

We are targeting five per cent marketshare of retail health insurance business within the next five years,’ said CEO of Apollo Munich Insurance Company Ltd Antony Jacob.

‘Our head office is in Gurgaon, Haryana, it will help us to reach northern parts of India. We are planning to cover all villages by conducting check-ups for dental and visual problems.

A identity card would be issued to them and complete knowledge about the products would be described to all the people. Previously, we designed several products in health insurance with other companies according to their needs,’ he added.

He also said, ‘Through partnership, agents, brokers, staffs, we are planning to market the products. We also have a website which is most essential and easiest channel to reach the customer. Along with the health insurance certificate we give CDs that demonstrate the process which will be helpful for the customer to reach us’.

The products are developed by healthcare expertise and experience of The Apollo Hospitals Group and Munich Health of Germany after thorough understanding and research. Each benefit is designed keeping the healthcare needs of Indian customers in mind.

The structure, the process and the benefits have been formulated by experts in the field of healthcare and health insurance.

The product benefits are designed with the sole aim to create India’s top-of-the-line health insurance plan for customers to maximise advantage of tax deduction benefit.

The Maxima benefits include Rs 3 lakh inpatient insurance cover with pre- and post- hospitalisation cover, day- care surgery cover, cash- less OPD expenses across trusted network of pharmacies for pharmacy bills, diagnostic centers for diagnostic tests and annual health check-up, dental and optical care centers for contact lenses, spectacles and dental treatments along with consultation with family doctors.

Over 1,500 providers have been empanelled by Apollo Munich in six cities with plans to add more in the coming days. The customer can also consult the doctor of their choice outside the trusted network on a reimbursement basis as per the plan.

Do you think the insurance has become acceptable to the customers and has become as important as banking and other segments of financial sectors?

In the last 14-15 years, the level of awareness and the need for health insurance amongst people has improved tremendously. In 1996 when I first looked at health insurance in India, the amount of premium generated by private health insurance was somewhere in the region of 450 crores. Today, my calculations for March 2010 say that it is going to close at around Rs 9000 crores, i.e. about 20 times in 14 years. Though the industry has been growing at about 25-30%, there is no time for complacency.

People often compare between faster growth of telecom in India and that way insurance has hardly grown. Please comment.

If you evaluate the industry numbers, the health insurance market in India has been growing at about 25-30% per annum and has the potential to grow for the next 5 years, in my opinion, at 20-25%. But I must admit that this growth has been on a small base while it must be noted that the private sector telephony was started around mid 90s, a clear 5-10 years ahead of the private sector insurance.

How do you see the next decade of Indian insurance industry as the country's profile both inside and outside is changing rapidly?

At present the health insurance sector is characterized with very low penetration (only 3% of the Indian population is covered with some insurance cover), high out-of-pocket expenses and steep medical inflation (which is much higher to general inflation). It is estimated that 80 per cent of the healthcare spending is actually an out-of-pocket expense for individuals. On the other hand, changing demographics, affluence and work-life balance has brought about a paradigm shift in attitudes and demand for better and the best quality of healthcare.

Health insurance as a mechanism to finance this need is therefore finding greater acceptability. Thus the market has great prospects, but the need of the hour is to identify products that will suit customers' insurance needs and win their confidence. One of the critical elements in the competitive landscape of future would be the timely and accurate settlement of claims to win consumer confidence. No insurer wants to be known for being tardy in settling claims — its reputation will be built around the efficiency and alacrity with which claims are processed. A collective effort from all companies is necessary to take insurance to consumer and grow the insurance coverage beyond the 11 per cent that are covered at present in the top eight cities only.

At Apollo Munich Health, we are deeply committed to grow at least 25 per cent year on year for the next few years. We hope to uncomplicate people lives by giving them better healthcare and innovative products.

By Mr. Antony Jacob,
Chief Executive Officer

Antony Jacob: Apollo Munich to tap parent co’s hospitals, pharma chain

Apollo Munich Health Insurance will leverage the Apollo Hospitals and pharmaceutical chain and add 2,000 agents by April 2010. The standalone health insurance company, in its first year of operations, has clocked a premium of Rs 60 crore.

Addressing a press conference on the launch of its Maxima 360 Health Insurance plan, Mr Antony Jacob, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Munich Health Insurance, said, “Our major focus will be to grow the retail segment and expand the agency force to 40,000 agents by 2013-14 from the present 8,000 agents.” The claims from insuring corporates are more than 100 per cent while the claims from insuring individuals are 65 per cent, he said.

The Indian health expenditure is estimated at Rs 1,290 lakh crore of which 80 per cent of the medical expenses is met by individuals from out of their pockets. The nascent health insurance market, in terms of premium collection, is Rs 7,000 crore, growing at 25 per cent annually.

Using the health data available with its parent company Apollo Hospitals, Apollo Munich has developed a health insurance for HDFC Ergo General Insurance. “Since the company is focused only on health insurance, we will explore the possibility of developing co-insurance for other insurers,” he said.

Maxima 360 insurance covers outpatient consultations as well as inpatient hospital expenditure at a sum insured of Rs 3 lakh.

By Mr. Antony Jacob,
Chief Executive Officer

Apollo Munich CEO Mr. Antony Jacob Interview

What types of products are most popular? How about your focus for product development in India?

Inpatient indemnity cover is the most preferred and widely bought health insurance product in India. All general and health insurance players offer the same with few variations. However, Health insurance as a sector in India gained in importance post detarification in 2007 and since then there are visible examples of interesting product innovations.

With the strong understanding that Apollo Hospitals and Munich Health bring to healthcare and health insurance, we are in a good position to develop new market leading products. We will do this with a clear understanding of the voice of the customer. Having said that, we already have some of the best products in the market, and the scope for growth is quite substantial.

Nowadays most companies offer corporate health insurance to their employees as a part of their benefits package which is often positioned as an attractive proposition to retain talent but it needs to be noted by India Inc that the cover ceases to exist once the corporate employee moves out of the organization or there is a policy change for the employer side.

Thus keeping in mind the volatility of the professional and economic environment it is imperative for all corporate employee to look beyond the group insurance plan as extended by an employer and choose an adequate health cover for himself as well as his family at an younger age to make sure all diseases are covered when needed.

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What changes do you foresee in the health insurance industry?

The health insurance market in India has been growing at 25-30 per cent per annum and has the potential to grow in the next five years, in my opinion, at 20-25 per cent. At pres­ent, the health insurance sector is characterised by very low penetration (only 3 per cent of the Indian popula­tion is covered), high out-of-pocket expenses and a steep medical infla­tion (which is much higher than the general inflation). It is estimated that 80 per cent of health care spending is actually an out-of-pocket expense for individuals.

Changing demographics, affluence and work-life balance have brought about a paradigm shift in attitudes and demand for quality health care. Health insurance as a mechanism to finance this need is finding greater acceptability. The need of the hour is to identify products that will suit customers'needs. One of the critical elements would be the timely and accurate settlement of claims to win consumer confidence. No insurer wants to be known for being tardy in settlingclaims—its reputation will be built around the efficiency and alacri­ty with which claims are processed.

The success of this industry and its players hinges on the awareness level of consumers. So a collective effort by all companies is necessary to take insurance to the consumer and extend the insurance coverage beyond 11 per cent which is covered at present only in eight cities.

How does Apollo Munich envisage to stand out?

Apollo Munich is a combination of two specialists—Apollo, which is synonymous with the health care industry, and Munich Health, a leader in health insurance around the world. These two parents of Apollo Munich make an outstanding combination, difficult for any other company to replicate. We believe that through this parentage, we will be able to understand the health care financing requirements of the country and per­haps replicate the success of health care financing through insurance, as seen in other countries, with the sup­port of Munich Health.

We have already rolled out some products which reflect the blended advantage of the two specialist par­ents and will continue to innovate and uncomplicate.

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By Mr. Antony Jacob,
Chief Executive Officer