In the current times buying a health insurance plan has become very difficult owing to the increase in the costs of these plans. Secondly, healthy people are paying more premiums for the people who are sick. More often than not healthy people are carrying the burden of the unhealthy people and paying disproportionately. This is exactly how all insurance plans work. Healthy people are always found asking the questions why am I paying so much in spite of being healthy?
Three-year-old GOQii, the health and wellness ecosystem start-up focused on preventive healthcare has been working on how it could help all those who are healthy, benefit from healthcare plans. To complement its offerings around pre-emptive healthcare and wellness, GOQii has entered into a partnership with Max Bupa, a specialised health insurer, and Swiss Re, leading global reinsurer to provide differentiated and comprehensive health offerings.
As a part of this three-way deal, Max Bupa consumers will get ready access to GOQii’s unique personalised wellness engine which is equipped with solutions such as health coaching and health management tools. Swiss Re will provide technical assistance to Max Bupa in creating relevant products and building expertise to create risk assessment models for future.
“At GOQii, we respond to consumer insights with the help of technology innovations to offer fitness products and services which blend seamlessly in a consumer’s lifestyle and add value. Going beyond the wearable fitness band, we have introduced tools and services which inculcate the intent of healthy living among consumers. Our tie-up with Max Bupa complements our current offerings around pre-emptive healthcare and wellness,” says Vishal Gondal, Founder & CEO, GOQii.
Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa says, “Over the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in uptake of health insurance among customers under the age of 35 years. This segment is very active digitally and is turning to technology to stay fit. It is predicted that by 2019, 2 out of 5 internet users will use a health app. Engagement with such tools could be as high as 50%. This gives us a huge opportunity to promote holistic wellness by leveraging personal healthcare devices that are capable of tracking and relaying medically useful information”.
“Offering pre-emptive wellness solutions for maintaining their health is one effective way to engage with young customers and encourage them to buy health insurance. GOQii, with its rich expertise in the digital wellness space, provides an ideal platform that will help us penetrate deeper into this segment and serve the large uninsured population in the country,” Mehrotra adds.
For Swiss Re with the opening of its India branch, its focus is to develop sustainable practices in health insurance. We will provide technical support through our costing and risk management expertise. Kalpana Sampat, CEO of Swiss Re India Branch, added, “We are delighted to partner with Max Bupa and GOQii. With more tech-savvy and health conscious consumers, insurers like Max Bupa will have much to gain from working together with partners like GoQii. The overall health insurance programme connected with technology will help to reduce claims cost and allow insurers to better price their products for consumers”.
The new offering is also in line with the recent health insurance guidelines where IRDA is laying a strong emphasis on driving the shift from ‘illness to wellness’ and encouraging insurance companies to create offerings that cater to preventive healthcare needs of customers. With this alliance, Max Bupa has become the first health insurer in the country to partner with a digital health and fitness brand to create digitally enabled, holistic wellness solutions, tailor-made to meet the evolving health needs of customers.
