Nearly 62% health insurance policy holders surveyed saw their premiums increase

New Delhi, Aug 25 (IANS) A survey on health insurance facilities in the country has disclosed that nearly 62 per cent health insurance policy holders surveyed saw their premiums increase by 25 per cent or more in 2022.

The survey conducted by community platform Local Circles disclosed that of the 62 per cent, 38 per cent of them saw their premiums increase by 50 per cent. The increases came on the back of a significant increase in premiums in 2021.

As per the survey, nearly 38 per cent out of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the question on "how much has your annual insurance increased in the last 12 months," said they had paid 50 per cent or more, while 24 per cent citizens had paid 25 per cent - 50 per cent higher premiums and 11 per cent had seen their health insurance premium go up by 10 per cent -25 per cent, another 9 per cent paid 0 per cent - 10 per cent higher premium. Only 18 per cent, either did not have to shell out more or witnessed a dip in insurance premium or were unaware as their employer is taking care of it.

From the response to the Local Circles survey this year compared to that done in August 2021 it is very clear that the magnitude of the increase in premium has caught many unaware. Last year while the percentage of respondents who experienced an increase of over 25 per cent in health insurance premiums was 34 per cent, this year that number has jumped to 62 per cent. Overall, an average Indian, after experiencing a 10 per cent increase in 2021 is now experiencing an average increase of 25 per cent. Many senior citizens with independent policies are reporting a much higher increase of over 50 per cent which is putting a squeeze on their retirement finances at a time when costs of most products like fuel, essentials are all rising.

Per external estimates as well, post the Covid pandemic, health insurance premiums have increased anywhere between 10-25 per cent for a number of reasons cited by insurance providers including high payouts during the last two years.

After thousands of posts and comments were received pertaining to the sizable increase in health insurance premiums by LocalCircles, it decided to conduct a national survey to quantify the pain of citizens and to understand the increase in health insurance premiums at an aggregate level.

The study which collected over 20,000 responses in two periods of August 2021 and August 2022 from citizens located in 287 districts of India asked people about the increase in health insurance premiums they experienced.