Covid-19 gifts small firm employees big firm-like insurance

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The rapid rise of Covid-19 cases has made employers worried about the well-being of their employees. This is the reason many companies, including small and medium enterprises, are now rushing to buy health insurance coverage for the employees and their families. According to the Union Health Ministry data updated on April 26, 3,52,991 people got tested positive for coronavirus infection in a day, the highest so far. India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases has climbed to 1,73,13,163 while active cases have crossed the 28-lakh mark.

“With the outbreak of the pandemic, there has been a huge increase in insurance awareness in the country. Lots of employers didn’t give it the serious attention it deserved earlier. The number of enquiries has increased manifold over our portal with even small teams of 8-10 employees wanting to have an insurance policy for their employees,” said Abhishek Poddar, co-founder and CEO of Plum, a Sequoia-backed company that helps organisations to manage employee health insurance & health benefit plans. The company was founded in 2019 and has since then onboarded over 500 companies. These companies include startups like Groww, CleverTap, Fampay, StayAbode, RevvSales, Swiflearn, among others.

Holistic approach

Poddar added that employers have started looking at employees wellness in a holistic way now. They have started offering comprehensive health benefits including doctor consultations, health check-ups, fitness and yoga, mental wellness, nutrition, and dental care.

Having said that, while companies are going for health insurance plans, life insurance companies are restraining from offering group term plans due to high morbidity rates in the country. “There has been a mixed impact of Covid on group health insurance. Elective surgeries have been postponed due to which health insurance companies are seeing a spike in growth,” said Poddar.

Impact on rates

Many insurers have said due to the increase in claims, there might be an increase in group health insurance rates. Nikhil Apte, Chief Product Officer -Product Factory (Health Insurance), Royal Sundaram General Insurance, said, “This time due to the increase in severity of cases for Covid hospitalisation due to increased oxygen demand and life-saving anti-virals, the claims costs in the second wave is increasing even for younger employees. This is likely to put pressure on insurance companies to increase the premium as covid is set to affect 2021-22 also.”