National Insurance Awareness Day: Has insurance awareness increased post-coronavirus pandemic?

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The global pandemic has put the spotlight back on insurance, and there’s no better time than National Insurance Awareness Day to spread awareness when insurance penetration is as low as around 3% in India. This 28th June 2021 when the country has been emerging from the devastating second wave of Covid-19, it will be a wake-up call for the millions, to buy an insurance policy without any further delay for keeping their family protected.

Today experts say it is time to review the insurance portfolio to keep your family financially secured in case of an emergency or unforeseen incident. Here is a list of what insurance stalwarts have to say on National Insurance Awareness Day:

“The private life insurance industry in India celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. This milestone has coincided with perhaps the most severe reminder about the fragility of human life and uncertainty about the future. The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the need for Life Insurance more emphatically than ever before. With a premium to GDP ratio of less than 3%, clearly, there is an urgent need to fast-track Insurance penetration in the country. Life Insurance serves the dual purpose of providing protection against mortality risk, as well as the risk of outliving one’s income,” said Naveen Tahilyani, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Tata AIA Life Insurance.

Abysmal insurance coverage

Pankaj Verma, Head (Underwriting), SBI General Insurance, said insurance penetration is still abysmal in the country.

“Though adequate and relevant insurance is the foundation of good financial health, people sometimes avoid it considering the complexity of the subject, not understanding one’s risks and so on. But it is time that one should understand that unexpected incidents and accidents can lead to major financial instability and may lead to distress, as we saw last year. In a country where a significant part of the population dips into their savings to meet rising medical costs, low insurance penetration can impact the entire economy. Protection in the form of insurance can help avert such disasters,” he said.

Naval Goel, founder and CEO, PolicyX.com, said National Insurance Awareness Day is a crucial day which reminds us to reconsider our existing insurance policies based on the constantly evolving needs of our lives.

“I think, this year, National Insurance Awareness Day holds a greater significance as the pandemic has changed several things in everyone’s life, hence, the decision of insurance plans, either already taken or yet to be taken, should definitely be re-evaluated from the current scenario’s outlook where medical inflation has intensified, medical requirements have heightened and risk of life has increased multifold.

“People need to understand that Term Insurance and Health insurance plans are unique in nature offering widely different benefits to our lives. Therefore, they aren’t irreplaceable with each other, in fact, term and health insurance are two different sides of the same coin and a person needs both to lead a secured financially stress-free life,” he said.