BAJAJ STEPS TOWARDS POLICY PORTABILITY

Kolkata: Unhappy with your health policy and looking for a switch? Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has introduced a facility under which people having a health policy of another insurer can make a lateral shift to a similar policy from Bajaj Allianz, while maintaining the continuity of their original policy i.e., customers will not lose the premium paid to the earlier insurer.

The shift, subject to Bajaj Allianz’s approval, also requires that the immediate preceding year be claim-free. Portability in health insurance policies is currently being examined by the insurance regulator (Irda). At present, policyholders can shift their mediclaim policies within the four nationalised general insurance companies, but such instances are few.

Ujjaini Dasgupta, head, health insurance, Bajaj Allianz, told DNA Money, “All that is generally needed is a copy of the existing policy and a certificate from the earlier company that the premium has been paid. It is too early to forecast a trend, but the option is definitely there for a lateral shift from similar products.”

The company is also preparing to counter the possibility of fraud on such offers. “What we are now looking at is sharing of a database of the negative profile of the customer, if any, to prevent frauds and help underwrite better,” Dasgupta said.

Bajaj Allianz Life unveiled its national expansion plans for its health insurance vertical here on Friday. The insurer also rolled out a new product, Family CareFirst family floater plan, that covers policyholders family as well as in-laws.

E C J Augustine, head, sales and strategic initiatives, Bajaj Allianz Life said, “Health is one of our key verticals and we expect to do Rs 120 crore of premium this year from the products we have at present. We will be introducing new products on women and children in the coming months.”

“The company will aim to sell 2 lakh policies and we are looking at cross selling within the group,” Ujjaini Dasgupta added.

Bajaj Allianz suffered a knock last year, as it has to do away with actuarially funded products, which contributed almost 50% of sales. But the company has been able to reverse the situation through rise in sales of other products.

According to Augustine, the company will lay emphasis on rural sales, for which it is upping its agent count to 20,000. It will also have 1,000 unit managers for the new thrust. Overall, the company is planning 50,000 additional agents to take their total count to 3 lakh.

Source: DNA Money