98 per cent of women feel health insurance policies need to be more women-centric  

Hyderabad: Reliance General Insurance, a 100% subsidiary of Reliance Capital, has conducted a survey commissioned by research agency Nielsen to understand the behaviour and involvement of women when it comes to investment in Health Insurance. RGI aims to promote financial prudence and independence amongst millennial women 

According to a release, the report showed that 98% of the women believe that there should be more women centric health add-ons in the health insurance such as Menstruation/hormonal issues, PCOD treatment, Mental Illness related to Postpartum Syndrome and Osteoporosis Treatment. Women’s health has been majorly affected given their ever-evolving roles both at work as well as at home which make the need for health insurance vital. Their bodies are biologically different from men; hence it has been noted that women are more susceptible to critical ailments such as arthritis, breast cancer, auto-immune diseases, menstruation/hormonal issue etc. It was also noticed that the top three features that women see while buying a policy is its Coverage Amount, Network of cashless hospitals it covers and claim settlement capability of the insurer. 

Also, with the COVID-19 pandemic, women have displayed a unique resilience throughout the year and have realised the importance of a health insurance policy especially at the time of a crisis. The report shows that 57% of the policies purchased by women were done, only during the last one year, with three of four with at least ₹15 lakh coverage. The report goes on to show that 7 out of every 10 women who don’t have a health policy plan to invest in it in next 6 months. 
With Financial security being a top priority, the data revealed that as many as 61% of women investors in health insurance are the sole decision makers and financial security for their family has become the topmost trigger for buying health insurance, with the rise in medical cost and in number of new diseases.

Although decision making had gained prominence amongst women, around 7 out of 10 women are still dependent on others when it comes to buying the health insurance policy. Women feel the need to be more educated about health policies to be able to make the investment decision on their own. It has been observed that though women do the basic research on health policies online most of them finally go offline and become dependent either on an agent or a family member to take the final call on a policy. This is mainly due to lack of policy knowledge, or hesitation that women have about the particular policy or a product. 

The report is compiled based on an online survey of 547 women across Tier-I, II and III cities and among the age group of 21-45, 80% of whom were working and financially independent.

The survey shows that after years, women’s interest in health insurance as a financial security investment, has finally gained the much-desired importance in the country and as a result insurer must come up with health policies and add-ons that completely ensure women requirements and that they remain healthy and are also completely secured against any medical emergencies.