‘Over 5% price hike in just 5 health covers’

HYDERABAD: Amid multiple reports about an abnormal hike in insurance premiums in the past month for certain categories such as senior citizens, Irdai on Thursday clarified that just five products have been allowed to hike premium upwards of 5%.

“As on September 30, 2020, out of 388 products, premiums were increased by general and health insurers up to 5% of the then prevailing rates only in case of 55 products,” it said.

Irdai said there have been reports doing the rounds about hike in health insurance premium rates by general and health insurers and these reports attributed the hike in premiums to recent regulatory initiatives by the insurance regulator.

Irdai said insurers were permitted to change (decrease or increase) the base premium by up to 5% of the originally approved premium rates in order to comply with the guidelines on standardisation of exclusions as a one-time measure for seamless transition of existing products to ensure viability and sustainability.