UCO Bank, Liberty to form non-life JV

There would be another nationalised bank as a partner in the joint venture besides UCO. Liberty will hold 26% as per regulatory norms.

Kolkata: UCO Bank has decided to enter into a joint venture agreement with the US-based Liberty to foray into non-life insurance business during the current financial year.
“After deciding to enter the non-life insurance business, the bank was in talks with several foreign players like the Liberty of US, Engine of Italy and a few other Japanese firms for roping in a foreign partner as per IRDA regulations,” a bank official told PTI.
While UCO would have a minimum stake of 30% in the JV, there would be another nationalised bank as a partner in the joint venture. The foreign company would hold 26% as per regulatory norms.
The official, however, declined to divulge the name of the nationalised bank.
“UCO would take a period at least three months to ink an agreement among the three partners. Then a subsidiary firm would be formed,” the official added.
Restructuring capital
The bank would raise Rs325 crore in the form of perpetual preference cumulative shares during the last week of June.
Although the bank has obtained the Finance Ministry’s nod to restructure its capital, it was yet to get the approval of the Cabinet. ”The Cabinet approval is expected any moment,” the official said.
On getting the Cabinet nod and depending upon the capital market conditions, UCO would go for a follow-on public issue to raise Rs450-500 crore from the market. “We expect the market to improve by September,” the official said.
Post follow-on offer, government holding in the bank would come down to 54%. It had approached the government for restructuring of its capital base in order to reduce the Rs800 crore equity base with a view to enhance EPS.
On the bank’s earlier plans of entering the derivatives market, the official said seeing the experience of other banks, it was not advisable to venture into this area.
At the end of March 2008, Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) of the bank stood at 10.09%.

Source: LiveMint 8/6/2008 (PTI)

General insurance industry logs 14% growth in April

The general insurance industry grew by 14 per cent in April led by strong growth in premiums collected by private sector insurers, including Bajaj Allianz and Reliance General.
The 17 non-life insurers collected a total of Rs 3,593 crore premium in April this year, against Rs 3,141 crore during the same period in the previous year, according to the industry data. During the period, the four public sector non-life insurance companies collected Rs 2,015 crore in the reviewed month, against Rs 1,864 crore in the year-ago period. Private players increased their business from Rs 1,278 crore to Rs 1,578 crore during the period, a significant growth of 23 per cent in the month. While growth of public sector firms dropped to 8 per cent in the period. State-run New India Insurance maintains its position at the top with the highest premium collection of Rs 694 crore in April, while ICICI Lombard is at the second slot with premium of Rs 543 crore in the month. Private insurers like Reliance General Insurance and Bajaj Allianz are contesting strongly to grab the second position in the insurance industry. Bajaj Allianz witnessed a growth of 28 per cent in the month with its premium growing to Rs 276 crore from Rs 215 crore in April last year. While Reliance General Insurance, which has been among the fastest growing firms, witnessed an increase of 24 per cent in its premium of Rs 274 crore in the month.
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How to make the best use of cashless mediclaims

MUMBAI: Cashless hospitalisation is in today. If cashless were to be efficiently used, you can simply walk into a network hospital, flash your card and undertake treatment without paying a penny. But these “hassle-free” plans can actually end up being more painful for you. Here is a checklist which could come in handy at stressful times. If it’s a planned hospitalisation, talk to your third-party administrator (TPA). Get an estimate of the medical cost for your treatment and choose the hospital from the mentioned network accordingly. n Keep your mediclaim cards handy. Also, keep the contact details of your TPA. Check the list of network hospitals covered under your mediclaim policy along with the room specifications. Check the room details, as some mediclaim policies accommodate only simple air-conditioned rooms as against deluxe rooms, because of rising medical costs. Some policies also have imposed sub-limits. The most common sub-limits imposed by insurers are room rents, doctors’ fees and diagnostics. So, when you sign up for a policy, check if the insurer has assigned a maximum amount for a specific expense. If you have a sum insured of Rs 1 lakh and the insurer has capped your room rent at 1-1.5% of the sum insured, then your room rent cannot exceed Rs 1,000. Similarly, insurers cap the doctor’s fee at 25-30% of the bill amount. If the actual bill amount exceeds any of these sub-limits, then you will have to pay the balance from your pocket. Stay within the sum assured of your mediclaim. If you hail from a small or mid-sized town, you should look at a cover of Rs 2-3 lakh. If you reside in a metro, you should not look at covers less than Rs 4-5 lakh. Finally, cashless mediclaim does not cover OPD consultation/procedure done in pre-hospitalisation period. The recent budget has given an additional deduction of Rs 15,000 year under Section 80 D if you pay medical premiums for your parents. Earlier, you could avail of deduction up to Rs 15,000 per annum on the premium payment for dependent parents, spouse or children. The money should be on its way. Although there are administrative hassles in a cashless product, you can’t rule it out. It’s a must have in your financial kitty today.
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Wading through the dense jargon of health insurance

Have you ever tried to decipher an insurance policy? The words in the policy document might put you in a plight similar to that of Eeshan Awasthi, the little boy in Taare Zameen Par — where the teacher in the classroom is desperately trying to impart her ‘knowledge’ and the little boy is off in another world of his own!
Similarly, an insurance policy goes on and on, with most of the text going above the head of the policy holder. There’s a dazzling assortment of the preamble, clauses, sub-limits, coinsurance, definitions, notifications, fees, penalties, exclusions and warranties, to be read, re-read and understood. Despite this, one may not fully understand the document.Jargon! How we love it!
The insurance industry has its share of dense jargon that causes ambiguity and results in innumerable disputes. In this article, we try to simplify a few terms used in the health insurance policies, so that it will be easier for the reader to wade through it, the next time he reads.
Floater Policy: In a floater policy, there will be a single limit for the entire family. Any member of your family or all put together can claim up to this limit for which the policy has been taken. For example: Let us assume that you have a mediclaim floater policy for Rs 2 lakh for your entire family consisting of self, spouse and 2 children. The benefit of a floater policy is that if any member of your family gets hospitalised, he/she can claim up to Rs 2 lakh. The only condition being that the total amount which can be claimed during the year by the entire family irrespective of who claims it stands capped at Rs 2 lakh.
The floater policy is generally not given to individuals but is taken by corporates for their employees and their families.
Non floater policy or the standard policy: In case of a non floater policy, or a standard policy, there is a cap on the individual limit for each member of the family. Say self and spouse have a limit of Rs 75,000 each and 2 children for Rs 25,000 each. In this case, in case of hospitalisation of one of the children, for a bill amounting to Rs 40,000, the maximum reimbursement that can be made is Rs 25,000 only. Whereas had it been a floater policy, the full claim of Rs 40,000 can be made, subject to availability of this limit by not having claimed over Rs 1.60 lakh earlier during the year.
Waiting period
It’s the period of time specified in a health insurance policy, which must pass before your health insurance coverage pertaining to certain ailments can begin. For example: If one has a waiting period of one year for covering cataract, and one has been operated for cataract around 9 months after the policy commenced, the claim will not be payable.
Pre-existing diseases: A pre-existing medical condition is one wherein the ailment has been diagnosed (or medically treated by a doctor) before the policy commencement date.
Suppose a person had an angioplasty done before the date of the policy, then his cardiac condition would be considered a ‘pre-existing condition’. If he subsequently suffers a heart attack, the insurer would be entitled to refuse payment.
The claim is repudiated when the prior existing medical condition has a direct bearing upon the ailment for which the hospitalisation has now taken place.
This exclusion applies normally to all individual policies, whereas groups can negotiate for waiver.
TPA (Third Party Administrator): A TPA is an authorised agency, appointed by the insurance company, to take care of claim settlements in health insurance.
The claim settling function is outsourced by the insurer, in order to improve the efficiency of claim settlement.
Cashless Claim Settlement: When you opt for a cashless facility, you can avail medical treatment as an inpatient (only at an empanelled hospital — known as ‘network’) without paying the treatment costs upfront to the hospital. The insurer / TPA will directly settle the bill with the hospital. When you avail cashless facility, personal expenses like telephone charges, toiletries, health drinks etc will have to be borne by you.
Reimbursement Claim Settlement: When you opt for a reimbursement facility, all the bills related to the hospitalisation will have to be paid by you directly to the hospital.
After discharge, all the reports, bills and receipts must be submitted by you, along with the claim form to the insurer or TPA. After scrutiny of the same, the insurer/TPA will settle the claim and reimburse you the claimed amount.
Network hospital (empanelled): A hospital which has entered into an agreement with an insurer or a TPA to extend cashless facility.
Non-network hospitals: Those hospitals which do not have a tie-up with your insurer / TPA are called non-network hospitals and you cannot avail cashless facility at these hospitals. You have to pay first and claim later.
One of the most important things you can do as a policy-holder to avoid hassles during a claim is to review and understand the terms and conditions of the insurance policy.
If you have any questions, contact your agent/ broker/ insurer for an explanation. This helps you to avoid any misunderstanding.

Source: The Hindu

Rural India to Reap Benefits of E-health Services

HealthSprint, a healthcare IT company, in collaboration with various microinsurance service providers, is poised to offer e-health services to rural India. The company, through its e-health services offers transfer of healthcare data, appointments with specialists, health insurance coverage, Web-based searches for physicians, and online prescriptions and medical reports. In addition, the company offers customers' connectivity with neighborhood laboratories and pharmacies through technology-based systems. The company is planning to implement the rural Micro Health Insurance Project Network in a couple of months. Initially, it will cover rural areas in the states of AP, North Karnataka, and Gujarat. Through its e-health service, HealthSprint connects rural hospitals to those in metropolitan cities and rural customers with microinsurance companies. The platform is already operational in Bangalore, Mangalore, Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vellore, and Delhi through major hospitals and nearly 10 health insurance companies. "We wish to touch 1 billion lives in the next 5 years and become one of the most credible Indian healthcare data exchange platforms in India to solve people's problems in a convenient and secure manner," said P. Rammohan, co-founder and MD, HealthSprint. The company has initiated an upgraded Web service platform that provides medical and financial information to payers and providers in the healthcare arena. It also offers state-of-the-art content management systems which plug in as a middleware in the portal. "This system enables the transformation of present paper-based claims management into electronic submission system in India", informs Brahmesh D. Jain, co-founder of HealthSprint.
"The idea is to provide a laptop, scanner and printer to rural hospitals that ensures effective communication of healthcare data to insurance companies and tertiary hospitals. We are expected to connect with nearly 1,000 hospitals, 2,000 pharmacies, and 2,500 diagnostic centers", added Jain. The company is setting up a venture with the SKS Microfinance, Hyderabad and Sewa Women's Co-operative Federation in Gujarat for e-health services. HealthSprint operates through a network of nearly 160 hospitals and has a partnership with Yos Technologies for the creation and maintenance of personal health records. The company operates health insurance information exchange system for patients, whose hospitalization expenses are settled directly by the healthcare insurance companies. In addition, it provides a corporate platform that allows firms to manage pre-employment and annual health checkups for employees online. "The company, through its portal, provides pre-policy health services and underwriting support to insurance companies. These platforms are communication-oriented and designed to enable transparency, speed, traceability and accountability across healthcare players," explains Rahul Shukla, co-founder and CEO, HealthSprint.

Source: CXOtoday.com