More women buying independent health covers for themselves now: Policybazaar study | Simply Save

The proportion of women covered under health insurance has increased by 40 percent in financial year 2023-24 compared to FY 2022-23.

Also, the number of women buying independent health covers for themselves has grown by 43 percent in 2023-24 compared to last year, a survey conducted by online insurance broking firm Policybazaar.com has found.

“Women have traditionally been known to put their needs last; it is a heartening to witness this change, where women are taking charge and planning to secure their health,” says Policybazaar’s Chief Business Officer Amit Chhabra.

Policybazaar, which said it reached out to 23,000 female respondents across India for the study, has also seen an increase in the proportion of women policyholders - from 47 percent in 2022-23 to 52 percent in 2023-24.

Also read: Moneycontrol-SecureNow Health Insurance Ratings: Your guide to picking the right policy 

To understand the nitty-gritties of the study’s findings, Moneycontrol’s Preeti Kulkarni spoke to Amit Chhabra. Here are the key takeaways:

- The proportion of female respondents choosing coverage of over Rs 25 lakh rose from 15 percent in 2022-23 to 24 percent this year. Policybazaar has also noticed a 7 percent dip in the share of women choosing a cover of less than Rs 25 lakh.

- The company has found that the proportion of female policyholders under the age of 25 years has grown by 22 percent, while it has seen a growth of close to 10 percent in the 26-35-year age-group. The relatively older age band of 41-50 years saw its share grow by around 12 percent.

- However, the share of policyholders in the older age group of 51-60 years dipped from 20 percent to 17 percent in 2023-24. The proportion of those over the age of 60 years, too, dropped from 17 percent to 13 percent.

Chhabra identified affordability as the primary reason for this dip, as non-life insurers tend to charge higher premiums for these age bands as there are greater chances of illnesses, and therefore, claims. He said this points to a need for better senior citizen-specific policies from insurers.

Also read: Health insurers launch new senior citizen-specific covers: Are they worth your while?

- The study showed a growth of 10.5 percent in the number of female policyholders from Tier-2 towns. In the case of Tier-3 towns, the rise was much lower at 4.3 percent.

- Policybazaar’s study has noted a rise of 31 percent in the share of female policyholders buying health insurance policies that come with maternity coverage.

- Claims filed by women, too, have gone up by 25 percent. Amongst women-specific illnesses, fibroids (30 percent), breast cancer (30 percent), and cervical cancer (10 percent) have emerged as the most common causes of claims.