2019-08-11_Business_Today

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MONEY TODAY > INSURANCE

ou have to have health insurance if

you don’t want to strain your finances

due to a medical exigency. You also

need life insurance to provide finan-

cial security to your loved ones in case

something were to happen to you.

This involves studying the features of

multiple policies. Many people often

delay or don’t buy insurance to avoid

the hassle of doing this. And, even

if they buy, many find it difficult to

manage multiple policies and ensure

timely premium payments.

To reduce these problems, in

2009, the Insurance Regulatory and

Development Authority of India, or

IRDAI, came out with regulations

allowing health and life insurance

companies to join hands and offer

combi plans offering both health and

life covers. But insurers have started

launching such plans only recently.

Right now, four such plans are on

offer.

Combi Plan Explained

It is a combination of two insurance

policies offered by one health and

one life insurance company jointly.

"Two providers - one health insurer

and one life insurer - join hands to

offer the product. Both underwrite

the proposal and accept the risk. The

customer gets a single policy with

separate policy schedules for health

and life," says Anand Roy, Executive

Director and Chief Marketing Of-

ficer, Star Health and Allied Insur-

ance. Typically, the products offered

under both health and life insur-

TWO TO

TA N G O

It makes sense to go for combo

insurance plans if you want to keep

things simple.

Illustration by Raj Verma

By RENU YADAV

112 I BUSINESS TODAY I August 11 I 2019