MUMBAI: Employers are widening employee health benefits beyond conventional group medical insurance as companies seek protection against diseases that can quickly exhaust standard health covers. Reflecting this shift, AstraZeneca Pharma India has become the first company in India to buy a group cancer care policy that sits on top of its existing group health insurance, covering nearly 25,000 employees and their family members.The policy, which has been structured by Howden India Insurance Brokers with a private insurer, supplements, rather than replaces, the employer’s base group medical cover.Most companies buy group medical insurance with a sum insured of Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, but cancer treatment often costs several times more. The additional cover is designed to meet expenses once the underlying group health policy is exhausted and also pays for certain cancer-related treatments that may not be covered under the base policy.“This was a basic need that we identified, and we’ve been working on it for almost a year to basically thrash out the edges on this product,” Amit Agarwal, CEO of Howden India, told TOI. “Although cancer-related treatment is covered under your GMC policy, the insurance limits are pretty less. On average, Indian corporates buy anywhere between Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. God forbid, if somebody actually faces a cancer kind of a challenge. These policy limits were not enough.” He added that discussions with another 10-12 employers are in the pipeline.

“Group health, when it started, was taken more as a retention tool by corporates. Today, most of these policies have become a standard inclusion in your package,” he said. “Now, what we’re seeing is that there is a big trend towards out-patient (OPD) and wellness. If you have 100 employees, only about 9 or 10 will use this medical facility. Whereas OPD would actually be utilised by 50-60% of your population in a year. A lot of these companies are investing heavily in OPD.“Howden spent nearly a year developing the cancer care product with insurers before placing the first policy. Under the structure, companies continue to buy their regular group health policy while deciding how much additional cancer cover they want. Agarwal said the product differs from retail cancer insurance because it has been built for employer-sponsored health plans and covers employees with pre-existing diseases.“Most of the cancer products that were available in the market were available on an individual basis,” he said. “Because we have made it in a corporate construct, even if you have a pre-existing disease, it gets taken care of.” He added that where the base group medical policy excludes certain cancer treatments, “this policy will drop down as well and cover you from ground up.”“This is the first of its kind in the Indian market. This product had never been placed in the Indian market,” Agarwal said.He said the product would need at least 100 corporate policies and 12 to 24 months of claims experience before its pricing and long-term pricing could be assessed.