“Unlike Life Insurance, in case of health insurance, there are multiple stakeholders involved and it is important for all of them to work together to make a success of this. This Summit has tried to assemble a confluence of industry players on a common platform to explore and arrive at a consensus on key directions,” said A Vaidheesh, Summit Chairman and Managing Director, Johnson and Johnson Medical. An aging population and an increase in lifestyle diseases will push the demand for hospitalization. It is important to recognize health as continuum and not as a point of reference. “The Summit will prove constructive for the vast array of issues affecting growth of this industry and the economy as a whole.”

Calling for a broader view of healthcare costs and an improved healthcare infrastructure, he said that by 2015, health insurance will cover 20 percent of the Indian population.

Providing an insight into the insurer’s mind, Mr DD Singh, Executive Director, Health Insurance, Life Insurance Corporation of India, stated that an insurer faces difficulties while choosing a product. Cost, quality and access decide the success of health insurance. The insurance companies need to talk about the mindset of the customer.

According to Jean-Michel Chatagny, MD, Client Market Asia, Swiss Re, in 2004 the world spent 4.1 trillion dollars on health. India has very less expenditure on health. Private insurance is very low and has the lowest percentage of government spending among the BRIC countries. The Swiss government encourages purchase of health insurance. India has potential for private insurers. Also, the care delivery infrastructure needs to be overhauled and the government has an important role to play, he said.

In his welcome address, Banmali Agrawala, Deputy Chairman, CII Western Region and MD Wartsila India Ltd. said that the first ever health insurance summit in India is an attempt to remind people of the importance of ‘forgotten’ health and health insurance to keep up with the fast track life. An indirect advantage of health insurance is that it keeps medical costs and practices under check. With the opening of the Insurance Industry to FDI, large amounts of funds have been flowing in.