Published in Mint on May 10 2016, Written by Abhishek Bondia What is a cost of living rider? Can this be added to my health insurance policy? —Anshita Sharma There are two kinds of cost of living riders. The first is a benefit to account for inflation. Several health insurance products factor this in by […]
Articles Tagged: general insurance
The role of insurance in catastrophes
Published in Mint on May 11 2016, Written by Kapil Mehta General insurance in India is a poor second cousin to life insurance. That is because life insurance impacts people directly whereas general insurance, consisting of products like fire, liability, engineering and marine insurance, is usually purchased by companies. It typically gets relegated to an […]
Deductible and its application are key to top-up health plans
Published in Mint on Apr 26 2016, Written by Abhishek Bondia My family and parents are covered by a general insurance policy by my employer. I want to buy a top-up health insurance plan. Shall I take it from the same insurer as my employer’s? Explain what top-up plans are. —Avijit Acharya Top-up plans are […]
Two insurance policies will not reimburse for the same expense
Published in Mint on Apr 12 2016, Written by Abhishek Bondia Can I take a health insurance plan for my parents who are senior citizens? Are there any tax benefits that I can avail of if I pay the premiums for the insurance policy? —Shalin Gupta Yes, you can be a proposer for your parents’ […]
For under-construction home buy contractor’s all-risk policy
Published in Mint on, Jul 16 2013, Written by Kapil Mehta Can I get fire insurance for my home even before construction is completed? —Avinash You can buy a contractor’s all-risk policy that will cover you for material damage and third-party liability. Material damage includes loss due to fire, floods, malicious damage or earthquake. It […]
Cancellation of motor insurance policy may be expensive
Published in Mint on, Jun 18 2013, Written by Kapil Mehta I met with an accident recently and my knee was fractured. Now I have recuperated. I want to know if ever the need for a knee replacement arises, will it be considered as a pre-existing disease? —Priyanka Singh When you decide to go in […]
Four reasons why Indians buy such little general insurance
Published in Mint on 16th April, 2018. Written by Kapil Mehta. Insurance penetration in India is low, particularly for general insurance, which includes motor, health, property and liability covers. We buy about Rs750 of general insurance per person per year compared to over Rs6,500 in Russia, China or Brazil, according to a report by the International […]
Insurance gets a new distribution avenue
Published in Mint on Oct 28 2015 To increase the distribution footprint of the insurance industry, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) has allowed a new type of distributor, called the point of sale (PoS) person. According to Irdai, this step is a part of its developmental agenda and it hopes that […]
Insurance: health over life
Published in Mint on Oct 18 2015 One of the joys of being a senior citizen is that your working days are behind you. This also means having working children and financial assets that make buying a life insurance policy unnecessary. However, what you need to consider seriously is a health insurance policy. Hospital bills […]
Tardy complaint handling and service hurts insurers
Published in Mint on 2 September 2015, Written by Kapil Mehta Last week, The New Yorker released a curated edition of its best cartoons over the past 90 years. My favourite is of two cavemen who have obviously just made a sacrificial offering. One of them looks quizzically at the other and says, “I don’t […]