“MUMBAI: The rising cost of having a baby in India is driving demand for health insurance plans with maternity benefits. The sale of such policies, which can be purchased up to 9 months before childbirth, is growing 80% annually, data from online distributor PolicyBazaar showed.
Though claims are almost certain under such policies due to planned parenthood, insurers are viewing them as an acquisition tool for new customers, and some are offsetting costs by requiring long-term premium payments.
“Most corporate policies limit maternity coverage to Rs 50,000 per policy. However, the cost can vary between Rs 50,000 and Rs 3 lakh, depending on the city and whether the delivery is a C-section one. This is prompting many young people to buy maternity cover,” said Amit Chhabra, PolicyBazaar’s chief business officer (health). According to him, rising costs are also pushing those without corporate coverage to look at maternity benefits.
Currently, around 12% of health policies being sold include maternity benefits, PolicyBazaar data showed, which is significant considering that only those in the 25-35 age group typically buy this cover.
“Maternity covers are generally provided as an add-on with a regular family health insurance plan. Maternity insurance typically has a waiting period that may range from 9 months to 3 years,” said Priya Deshmukh, head of health products, operations and services at ICICI Lombard General Insurance.
Some insurers are seeing over half of the maternity claims involve C-section deliveries — more so in tier-1 cities.
According to Deshmukh, women are opting for motherhood at a comparatively later age. “The average maternity age has increased from 26-27 years to 32-33 years in the last few years. The increased maternity age has caused an increase in complications during pregnancies,” she said. Deshmukh added that the rise in C-sections could be attributed to factors such as educated women living in urban areas, a falling pain threshold, higher compensation for C-sections from a patient’s perspective, and higher convenience from a doctor’s view.
Reliance General Insurance cited studies that show C-section deliveries in India have increased to 21.5% in 2021 from 17.2% in 2016. Rakesh Jain, CEO, Reliance General Insurance said many customers are opting for its ‘Infinity + Mother & Child Care’ rider. “This feature provides a maternity cover with a standard waiting period of 2 years, but the customer can opt for a year too. It also covers vaccination expenses up to Rs 1 lakh, over and above the sum insured,” he said.
According to PolicyBazaar, 78% of policies with maternity benefits are purchased by men for their spouses.
Page source : Times of India
