StarHealth.in June 5, 2007
Posted by Pallav Sharda in : Healthcare , trackbackIt’s always exciting to find out about the changing healthcare business in India. My latest pick is Star Health and Allied Insurance India which is arguably the most prominent and the only stand-alone health insurance company in Indian market today.
Star Health was formed with a capital base of Rs.105 crores, backed by Oman Insurance Company and bunch of prominent middle-eastern and Indian personalities. If you read the recent press, the big numbers will make your head spin- Star has reportedly earned a premium of Rs.100 crore in it’s first year by selling health policies to 25 million people through it 95 or so offices and plans to setup 125 outpatient clinics within the next year.
The company offers a host of products and services around healthcare, starting from basic hospitalization reimbursement to specialized NRI care and travel related health insurance. It’s a sign that the forces in Insurance industry are realizing the worth of indian market.
I personally think that effective health insurance needs infrastructure that can support accurate recording, filing and validation of claims- and that piece is still missing in the Indian market. There is zero accountability in medicine today and everyone knows that fake bills can be easily procured. Companies like Star Health are probably ready to take the hit of overbilling just to get established in the market (and establish the market itself), realizing that there is a ton of money to be made once the processes and accountability issues are resolved.
Fine print is that this is good news for folks in fields like Insurance, Healthcare and IT (specially Healthcare IT). Opening up new markets like health insurance means that India will need talent that can make it happen.
Update: StarHealth is launching a coverage plan for HIV-infected people this month (July’07). More evidence to it’s growth..
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