MILLENNIALS FOCUSED ON PROTECTION, PREFERBUYING RS. 5L+ HEALTH COVER: POLIYBAZAAR.COM STUDY

A recent survey conducted by Policybazaar.com indicates that millennials between the age-group of 22-35 years have better assessment of their protection needs, when it comes to buying health covers which shields them adequately. The survey reveals increasing number of millennials i.e. about 6 out of 10 are opting for health plans with higher sum insured in upwards of Rs.5L up to 1 crore. The survey took into account the buying behaviour of 10,000+ millennials purchasing health insurance policies across 15 states in India.

Study suggests, proportion of policies bought by millennials with sum insured of 10L and beyond has more than doubled in the past 5 years, surging from8.4% to 17.8%. Meanwhile, the Rs. 5 lakh health cover has today become the new Rs 3 lakh mark formillennials, as nearly a whopping 41% of them are going for this sum insured. The surveyalso indicatesthat proportion of health covers purchased by millennials with sum insured of Rs. 5 lakhsup to<10lakh has experienced a growth of20% in last 5 years. The data clearlydepicts how millennials today have prioritised purchasing a bigger coverage to protect themselves from future health problems arising from their existing lifestyle.

The latest trend of shifting preference towards buying policies with higher sum insured is in sharp contrast to the millennial buying trends five years back, when Rs. 3 lakhs and 2 lakhs were the most sought after health cover marks. The survey indicates a dip in thetotal proportionof policiesbought with lower sum insured. While the drop in the share of policies bought with SI of less than Rs. 3 Lakh is 38%, for those with SI between Rs. 3 to <5 Lakh is 22%. The changing trend clearly establishes how millennials today are wary of the risks that the existing lifestyle poses on their health and hencebetter understand the importance of protection against diseases.

In terms of age related findings, proportion of health covers with SI of 10 lakh & beyond bought by millennials in the age bracket of 22-25 years has gone up from 4.7% to 16.8% in the past 5 years.Similarly,shareof policies bought with SI in the range of Rs. 5 lakh to <10 lakhs also witnessed a growth of 13%, 28% and 17% across the 3-age groups respectively. This buying behaviour clearly denotes how millennials today are prudent and mindful of their own health protection needs.

Commenting on the study findings, Amit Chhabra, Health Insurance, Business Unit Head, Policybazaar.com, said, “A sudden medical emergency at any point in time poses a huge threat to one’s accumulated corpus if he/she doesn’t have an adequate health cover. Keeping this in mind, buying a health insurance while you are young is not only affordable but also makes sure that you stay financially secured against any medical emergency. With medical inflation rising at double-digit pace, millennials are now looking for health insurance plans with higher sum insured and add-ons like global coverage, OPD covers, and maternity cover to make the policy way more comprehensive.”

While focusing on city-wise trend another major finding of the study revealed that millennials of Delhi-NCR are the highest contributors to health insurance policies with higher sum insured. Nearly, 29% of all health policies with higher SI have been bought by millennials in the last 5 years across the age group of 22-35 years. Bengaluru ranks second with a 9% market share in terms of health policies bought over last 5 years. Among Tier-2 cities, Ahmedabad and Jaipur are the leading cities where millennials have purchased maximum health plans from the year 2014 to 2019