Asean Institute of Insurance & Risk Management (AIIRM) organised the fifth Insurer’s Conclave on affordable health insurance on January 21, in association with Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi.
The conclave was attended by eminent insurers from the private and public sectors, general insurance companies, academicians, students, healthcare providers and people availing insurance.
PK Behl, Ex-Executive Director, LIC and Member, AIIRM Advisory Council, welcomed the participants and guests. G Srinivasan, CMD, New India Assurance Co Ltd, who was the chief guest and patron, stressed on the need to make health insurance affordable so that a larger population can avail its benefits. He gave many valuable suggestions to bring down the cost of insurance, including the need to effectively regulate healthcare providers to help contain the spiralling cost of health treatment.
The highlight was the felicitation of two eminent insurers for their outstanding contribution to the growth of the insurance industry in India: NN Joshi, former Executive Director of LIC, and H Ansari, former Member, IRDAI and General Manager, Oriental Insurance Co Ltd. They were both presented with the AIIRM Eminence Award by the chief guest.
Panel discussions
Panel discussions on the theme were held in three sessions. The first session was on the role of insurers in providing affordable health insurance cover, chaired by Kalim Khan, Director, Rizvi Institute of Management Studies & Research, Mumbai. The three panellists were Abhijit K Chattoraj, Professor & Chairperson, CIRM, Birla Institute of Management Technology, Gr. Noida, who spoke on the topic ‘Health insurance practices in India’, followed by Arup Chatterjee, Principal Financial Sector Specialist, Asian Development Bank, Manila, Philippines, who deliberated on the topic ‘Providing health insurance through mutual and cooperative societies’ and Bhabatosh Mishra, COO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance Co Ltd, who spoke on ‘Designing of affordable health insurance policies’.
The second session was on the role of regulator/government in making health insurance affordable and universal, chaired by Arif Hoda, Ex-CMD, United India Insurance Co Ltd. The panellists were Malti Jaswal, COO, Health Insurance TPA of India Ltd, who spoke on ‘Need for regulating the role of health providers by the government’, Neera Saxena, DGM, New India Assurance Co Ltd, who elucidated on ‘Effective regulation for growth of affordable health insurance’ and KB Vijay Srinivas, General Manager, National Insurance Co Ltd, who spoke on ‘Universal health insurance scheme by the government for underprivileged citizens’.
The final session was on the factors contributing to escalation of health insurance cost, chaired by the guest of honour, Warendra Sinha, MD & CEO, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance Co Ltd. The two panellists in this session were R Chandrasekaran, Secretary General, General Insurance Council, who spoke on ‘Effective mechanism for preventing health insurance frauds’ and Sanjay Dutta, Chief- Underwriting, Re-insurance & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Co, who spoke on ‘Adverse selection in health insurance market’.
At the end of the 5th Insurers’ Conclave, prizes and certificates were given to the students of Jamia Hamdard, Mr. Asif Hassan Shaikh, Ms. Navjot Simi and Mr. Pavitra Solanki, the first, second and third winners respectively, in the essay competition organised by AIIRM and sponsored by National Insurance Co. Ltd. on the topic “How to Make Health Insurance Universal”.
The concluding address and vote of thanks was given by Mithilesh Sinha, former Chief Manager of Oriental Insurance Co, who was effusive in his praise for the discussions and deliberations conducted by the cream of the industry.