Health insurers disallowed claims worth Rs 15,100 crore or 12.9 per cent of the total claims filed during fiscal 2023-24, according to data released by regulator Irdai. Of the total Rs 1.17 lakh crore claims under health insurance of general as well as standalone health insurers, only Rs 83,493.17 crore or 71.29 per cent were paid during the year ending March 2024.
Further, insurers repudiated claims amounting to Rs 10,937.18 crore (9.34 per cent) while outstanding claims totalled Rs 7,584.57 crore (6.48 per cent), said the annual report 2023-24 of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai).
There were about 3.26 crore health insurance claims during 2023-24 with insurers, of which 2.69 crore (82.46 per cent) claims were settled. Irdai said the average amount paid per claim was Rs 31,086. In terms of number of claims settled, 72 per cent of the claims were settled through TPAs and the balance 28 per cent of the claims were settled through in-house mechanism.
In terms of mode of settlement of claims, 66.16 per cent of total number of claims were settled through cashless mode and another 39 per cent through reimbursement mode. During the year 2023-24, general and health insurance companies collected Rs 1,07,681 crore as health, excluding personal accident and travel, insurance premium registering a growth of about 20.32 per cent over the previous year.
The general and health insurance companies had covered 57 crore lives under 2.68 crore health insurance policies, excluding policies issued under personal accident and travel insurance. At the end of March 2024, there were 25 general insurers and 8 standalone health insurers.
Public sector general insurers — New India, National and Oriental Insurance — are doing health insurance business in foreign countries. During the year 2023-24, they procured gross premium of Rs 154 crore from health, personal accident and travel insurance and covered 10.17 lakh lives.
The insurance industry covered a total of 165.05 crore lives under personal accident insurance during the last fiscal. It includes 90.10 crore lives covered under government flagship schemes — Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), and IRCTC travel insurance for e-ticket passengers.
Source: The Economic Times
Net incurred claims to net earned premium (claims ratio) of non-life insurance industry stood at 82.52 per cent during 2023-24 as against 82.95 per cent in the preceding fiscal year, as per the Irdai’s annual report.
According to the Annual Report 2023-24 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai), during 2023-24, the non-life insurance industry underwrote a total direct premium of ₹2.90 lakh crore in India registering a growth of 12.76 per cent from previous year.
The contribution of public sector general insurers increased 8.88 per cent from ₹82,891 crore in 2022-23 to ₹90,252 crore in 2023-24. Private sector insurers, including standalone health insurers, have underwritten ₹1.88 lakh crore as against ₹1.58 lakh crore in 2022-23.
The aggregate profit of the non-life insurance sector was ₹10,119 crore as against a net loss of ₹2,566 crore in 2022-23. During 2023-24, the aggregate net incurred claims saw a 15.39 per cent increase to ₹1.72 lakh crore from ₹1.49 lakh crore.
“The incurred claims ratio (net incurred claims to net earned premium) of the non-life insurance industry was 82.52 per cent during 2023-24 as against 82.95 per cent of the previous year,” the report said. The incurred claims ratio for public sector insurers was 97.23 per cent for 2023-24 as against the previous year’s incurred claims ratio of 99.02 per cent.
The incurred claims ratio for private sector general insurers, standalone health insurers and specialised insurers were at 76.49 per cent, 63.63 per cent, and 66.58 per cent, respectively, for 2023-24 as compared to the previous year’s ratio of 75.13 per cent, 61.44 per cent and 73.71 per cent, respectively. The report also said that the life insurance industry paid total benefits of ₹5.77 lakh crore in 2023-24, constituting 70.22 per cent of the net premium.
The benefits paid on account of surrenders/withdrawals increased 15.29 per cent to ₹2.29 lakh crore in 2023-24 of which public sector life insurer accounted for 58.36 per cent. During 2023-24, a total of 18 life insurance companies reported profits. Profits of the life insurance industry grew 10.79 per cent in 2023-24 with profit after tax (PAT) of ₹47,407 crore as against ₹42,788 crore in 2022-23.
Public sector life insurers reported an 11.75 per cent increase in profits while private sector life insurers reported a rise of 5.32 per cent in profit in 2023-24. Irdai said in 2023-24, the country’s insurance penetration was at 3.7 per cent as compared to 4 per cent in 2022-23.
The insurance penetration for life insurance industry marginally declined from 3 per cent in the previous year to 2.8 per cent during 2023-24. The penetration with respect to non-life insurance industry remained the same at 1 per cent during 2023-24 as in 2022-23. There were 26 life insurers, 25 general insurers, eight standalone health insurers, 12 reinsurers and foreign reinsurance branches, and two specialised insurers, registered as on March 31, 2024.
Source : Live Mint
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