THE POSITIVE IMPACT OF AYUSHMAN BHARAT AND OTHER GOVERNMENT SPONSORED HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEMES ON THE INDIAN INSURANCE INDUSTRY

It is claimed in the Annual Report of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) that the general insurance industry underwrote total direct premium of 1.89 lakh crore in India for the year 2019-20 as against 1.69 lakh crore in 2018-19, registering a growth rate of 11.49 per cent as against 12.47 per cent growth rate recorded in the previous year, in spite of the pandemic influence. But the contribution of Government Sponsored Health Insurance Schemes (GSHISs) through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) to this growth is to be realized and recognized at this juncture. During 2019-20, amount of premium collected, the share of Government Business stands as 10 per cent. The General and Health Insurance companies have covered 49.87 crore lives under 1.79 crore health insurance policies excluding policies issued under PA and Travel Insurance. Out of these lives covered, 72 per cent of the lives were covered under government sponsored health insurance schemes only, 19 per cent of the lives were covered under group business and the remaining 9 per cent of the lives were covered under individual policies issued by general and health insurers.Looking at the profitability of the health insurer also, the incurred claims ratio is just 97.22% in GSHISs. The Government Business ICR is much lesser than the Group business ICR of the Public sector insurers and standalone health insurers.Thus the health insurance premium, penetration and profitability- all these are significantly sponsored and subsidised by the Government through GSHIS, incorporating the PPP mode. This paper deals with the role of GSHIS in the Health insurance segment in detail, taking the performances of the Indian health insurance sector in the year 2019-20.