Rise In Demand For Individual Health Covers: Study
Digit Insurance, India’s private general insurer, today released an internal study on the trends in demand for health insurance on the back of rising number of COVID-19 cases. The study that compared Digit’s data for health products between 1st November and 31st December 2021 with same period in 2020, revealed a 98 per cent rise in demand for retail health covers.
Key highlights from Digit’s internal study:
- Demand for health cover increased 2 folds times between November and December 2021, compared to same time in 2020.
- The increase in demand was seen across all retail health insurance products like Digit Health Care Plus, Digit Arogya Sanjeevani and Digit Corona Kavach.
- Number of lives covered under group health covers surged by over 170 per cent.
- While demand for health covers has gone up, the average sum insured across products dropped by 17 per cent. This indicates that more people are buying health insurance but with lower sum insured.
- The demand for health insurance in big cities such as Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi increased by 104.4 per cent in 2021 led by Bengaluru, New Delhi and Ahmedabad.
- The demand for health cover from small cities such as Nashik, Rajkot and Vadodara increased by 95 per cent in 2021. A large share of the demand came from Gurugram, Thane and Vadodara.
Vivek Chaturvedi, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Direct Sales, Digit Insurance said, “Ever since the onset of the pandemic, more people are realizing the need for adequate financial cushion and are actively seeking health covers. There are two trends that stand out. First is the overall increase in demand for health covers and second is the sharp rise in the number of lives covered under our group health products. The pandemic has definitely made more individuals and employers realize the impact of the skyrocketing medical expenses, in turn encouraging them to buy health covers. We believe the overall demand would settle on a higher trend even though it could flatline once the current wave is brought under control.”
The study is done based on the internal data evaluated between 1st November and 31st December of 2020 and 2021.
