Health Insurance firms in Delhi may increase the premium of their policies by 5 percent if the insurance claim data in the Delhi-NCR region show high numbers of respiratory ailments and disorders according to an India Today report. Another option for these companies is to take a health checkup of people before getting them on board.

However, there has been no concrete data related to smog-related hospitalisation and insurance claims.

Insurance policies around the country are usually priced according to geography. The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, an autonomous and regulatory body for insurance companies permits geographical pricing of insurance policies. Some of the parameters which affect the price of a policy in different parts of the country are costs of living and availing healthcare, as well as the record of claims and incidents of cheating.

Speaking to India Today, Ashish Mehrotra, CEO and MD of Max Bupa Health Insurance said, “Geographical pricing will help us in pricing policies appropriately, as places with lower incidences of health risks and cheaper cost of treatment are not affected due to the expensive costs in cities.”

According to a health insurance official, the practice of classifying zones according to health hazards and risks is not popular. “The data is scattered and not standardised,” he said.

Insurance officials also say that apart from health hazard parameters, fraud and cheating of insurance companies should also be a determinant for the pricing of health insurance policies.

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