HDFC Ergo to launch cashless post-hospitalisation claims
Times of India | 6 December 2024
Kolkata: HDFC Ergo, one of the leading non-life insurers, is planning to introduce cashless claims for post-hospitalisation treatment. Once launched, it would be one of the pioneers in its segment to do this.
While PSU non-life insurers are yet to have a cashless facility for post-hospitalisation treatment, no private non-life insurer has introduced this. However, most non-life insurance companies offer reimbursement of post-hospitalisation claims.
The chief business officer and director of HDFC Ergo, Parthanil Ghosh, said the company was working on the new model. The company paid a claim amount of Rs 2,900 crore in 2023-24 nationally, and in West Bengal, the figure was Rs 147 crore as far as retail was concerned. Ghosh was in the city on Thursday.
According to Ghosh, cashless post-hospitalisation settlement would be done through the ‘HERE' app of HDFC Ergo, which was introduced two years ago for better customer interface. The app already has 70 lakh downloads and four lakh users.
Ghosh also made it clear that it would be introduced by the third week of Dec. "There will be no extra load on policy following this facility," he said.
HDFC Ergo has a network of 7,800+ advisers, 10 branches and 430+ employees across Bengal and has been focusing on boosting health insurance inclusion in the region. In the first half of the last fiscal year, it paid claims of Rs 63.9 crore in Bengal, while during the first half of the current fiscal year, it was Rs 91 crore.
As a whole for the current fiscal year, till H1 FY25, the insurer settled a total of 56,761 claims worth Rs 118 crore in West Bengal, including 14,345 claims worth Rs 86 crore in Kolkata. In 2023-24, the company collected Rs 240 crore in premiums from retail health policies in the state, and from Kolkata, the figure was Rs 200 crore.
Nationally, HDFC Ergo collected Rs 4,000 crore in premiums from retail health policies. In the first half of this fiscal year, the company collected Rs 122 crore in premiums in the state from the retail health sector.
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