Star Health and Allied Insurance Co Ltd is an Indian Standalone Health insurance company that commenced its operations in 2006. The company pioneered the concept of Standalone, which emphasises primary focus on health, Overseas Medical policies and Personal Accident insurance. It has maintained its position through path-breaking innovations and innovative products and is the first standalone insurer in India that assures direct and hassle free claim settlements. With its customer centric services, best rates and high-quality facilities, it has set benchmarks in the Indian health insurance domain and has been bestowed with several awards and accolades.

Though, there are many companies that offer health insurance plans, Star Health Insurance offers multiple health plans with a slew of benefits for customers from diverse backgrounds.

Star Cardiac Care contributed to provide comprehensive financial rotection, product service and multiple health plans for customers with a history of Cardiac ailments. It is this innovative approach that has given Star Health Insurance an Edge.

Objectives

Star Cardiac Care Insurance Policy covers treatment expenses of cardiac ailments of customers who have undergone PTCA and CABG who require hospitalisation of at least 24-hours. Pre and post hospitalisation medical expenses can be submitted prior to 30 and 60 days. The policy related to Cardiac Care has two plan options; Gold Plan and Silver Plan. Each plan has two distinct sections, one for regular hospitalisation and the other for hospitalisation for cardiac ailments. Under both the plans regular hospitalisation and all cardiac related ailments are covered. It also covers accidental death and there is no pre-acceptance medical screening.

Challenges And Solutions

Star Health Insurance faced quite a few major challenges, while designing this niche policy in 2013. The new product had no predecessor and therefore causing a lack of availability of data in the industry. A lot of time and energy was spent on getting in touch with the vulnerable target group, assuring customers of the right combination of medical and insurance terms. Subsequently, the product was revised in 2016 to include a larger spectrum of this population, prior to which, a good number of persons otherwise had to be turned away in view of the high risk expected. Training agents and other intermediaries with the technical terms and conditions so that there was no gap in conveying the policy terms and conditions.

The updated technological advances in the Company incorporated the new product condition and benefits, as configured for any new product launch, which helped with accurate data capturing and close to nil error free data processing.

This particular product is for persons who have undergone bypass or PTCA. As a first of its kind product, initially, Star Health Insurance was moving cautiously, limiting the eligibility, to only persons who had undergone PTCA and bypass grafting within a four years look back from the date of proposal.

Its experience indicated that there were more avenues that could be opened up without compromising much. Hence the revised version was launched with inclusion of those who had undergone Atrial Septal Defect (ASD)/Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) closure , Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) and persons on whom Angiogram was done but no intervention was medically found necessary. Further, the look-back period was enhanced from 4 years to 7 years. With these changes the ambit of the persons becoming eligible got widened. Out-patient coverage was also introduced to take care of the consultation, diagnostics and expenses on medicines and drugs. This in turn, was intended to encourage routine check-ups for health maintenance. Apart from all these features, embedded in this revised product was a Personal Accident cover against Accidental Death, which offered protection for the family of the policyholder in case of any mishap. On the whole this helped in increasing the penetration of Health insurance nationwide and the spread of reach of the Brand – Star Health Insurance.

The attitude and determination of the Leaders of This Shining Star, to cater to every segment of the population as declared in their Mission Statement, with no fear of failure, aiming to provide Healthcare for all their Countrymen as their ultimate goal, is what helps maintain their position in the Health Insurance Space.