Swiss Re to foray into health insurance
Swiss Re will acquire 26 per cent stake in TTK Healthcare Services Pvt Ltd, subject to regulatory approval.
TTK Healthcare is a third party administrator providing insurance companies with medical claims handling services including the administration of cashless schemes across 6,500 hospitals.
Through the newly formed joint venture, Swiss Re will provide support in claims processing and cashless service. India Value Funds Advisors, which invested in TTK Healthcare Services in 2004, will sell its 26 per cent stake to Swiss Re, with the rest held by the TTK group.
Swiss Re officials did not disclose the value of the deal. Munich Re, another international reinsurer, holds a stake in Paramount Health Services, a third party administrator. The international reinsurer also plans to create a 100 per cent owned subsidiary to offer product development, pricing and advice on corporate health schemes.
Mr Jean-Michel Chatagny, Managing Director, Strategic Corporate Development Asia, Swiss Re, said the company was now actively looking at health insurance as a sustainable business.
It will be expanding the health insurance business in China and other Asian markets, he added.
The health services advisory company will provide life, non-life insurance as well stand-alone health insurance companies access to international knowledge and skills on pricing, underwriting and claims, Mr Chatagny said.
Swiss Re will also expand the reinsurance capacity for health insurance in the free price regime, effective January 1. Currently, non-life companies suffer huge losses from their health insurance business as they offer it cheap to corporates and make it up with tariffed lines of business like fire insurance.
Mr Dhananjay Date, MD, Swiss Re India, said the company will provide reinsurance capacity for health insurance products designed by its new healthcare services advisory firm.
According to Swiss Re, 75 per cent of healthcare expenditure is funded out of pocket and less than 15 per cent of the population is covered by any form of health insurance.
The Indian health insurance market is valued at Rs 2,200 crore in premium. Swiss Re estimates the potential of $7,700 million (Rs 34,000 crore) in health insurance premium by 2015.
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