ICICI Lombard "Selective" in Providing Group Health Insurance

Country's largest private sector non-life insurer ICICI Lombard today said that it is selective in providing group health Insuranceas the combined ratio is on a higher side in the segment. A group health Insuranceplan is the one that provides healthcare coverage to a select group of people.Without disclosing any number, the company said that claims under its group health Insurancesegment have gone up in recent past.

"We have received higher claims under group healthInsurancethan that of the individual health insurance," ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company executive director Sanjeev Mantri told reporters on the sidelines of an event here today. "Hence, we are selective in group health Insurancein terms of with whom to work and with whom we shouldn't," Mantri said. However, he refused to share any further details on the plea that it was client-specific.

Talking about health Insurance portfolio of his company, he said, "As on March 31, the size of the health Insurance portfolio at ICICI Lombard was at Rs 1,500 crore, which comprised around 8% of the total industry's HI portfolio, which was currently having a size of Rs 25,000 crore."

The health Insurance segment was growing at a CAGR of 28% for the past few years in the country, he said.

The company provides cover against 18 critical illnesses and it has got 4,500 hospitals across the country under its network, he added. Meanwhile, sharing the highlights of ICICI Lombard research on wellness, he said that wellness as a concept was gaining ground as 40% Indians take to staying fit and healthy. The survey was conducted among 1,524 respondents across 10 cities in the country. According to the report, ninety% of the respondents perceive themselves to be healthy and inclination towards wellness witnessed more in Metro locations, among the youth. Around 44.5% of the respondents admitted to being under stress. Despite this, only 40% of the country's population is engaged in an activity that would keep them physically fit, the report said.