PhonePe today announced a partnership with Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd. (Star Health Insurance), India’s largest retail health insurance Company, to offer customers health insurance with a monthly and annual payment option. With this partnership, PhonePe users will now be able to avail of ‘Star Comprehensive Insurance Policy’ on the PhonePe app with coverage up to Rs.1 Crore. Having previously disrupted the market with its motor insurance products, with this launch, PhonePe further expands the options available to its users in the health insurance category.
Through this partnership, for the first time, Star Health Insurance’s Comprehensive Health Insurance will be offered to customers with a monthly premium payment plan, pioneered by PhonePe – a first-of-its-kind initiative in the industry. Users can also opt to pay their premium with the UPI AutoPay mandate and enjoy added convenience. This move was driven by a critical insight that smaller monthly payments ease the financial burden for users while empowering and enabling them to opt for more extensive insurance coverage without stretching their finances.
Star Comprehensive Insurance Policy is a power-packed insurance plan with benefits including the most popular OPD and maternity coverage. Market research conducted with PhonePe’s user base indicates that these two features were the most preferred by customers while buying health insurance. Star Comprehensive Health Insurance Policy is an end-to-end health insurance policy with sum insured available up to Rs.1 crore. The policy covers road ambulance and air ambulance expenses, out-patient medical consultation up to the limits, out-patient coverage for dental and Ophthalmic treatment, delivery expenses, organ donor expenses, provides coverage for newborn babies, including any congenital disorders, from day one of birth and vaccination expenses of the new born until the baby completes one year. Mental well-being is covered up to the sum insured. The policy does not impose sub-limits for day care procedures. Accidental death and permanent total disablement is covered up to 1 crore.
Star Comprehensive Health Insurance Policy also offers wellness programmes that provide discounts on premiums and condition management programmes. Furthermore, the policy provides an annual health check-up, automatic restoration of the sum insured up to 100%, and a cumulative bonus, payable up to 100% of the basic sum insured.
Speaking on the partnership, Vishal Gupta, CEO of PhonePe Insurance said “PhonePe is excited about this partnership with Star Health. Star’s differentiated benefits combined with PhonePe’s distribution, customer centric approach and simple DIY journeys will help turbocharge insurance adoption and penetration in the country. We are on a mission to help turn India from an underinsured nation to one that is adequately insured and view this partnership with Star as a crucial milestone in this journey.”
Speaking on the partnership, Anand Roy, MD and CEO of Star Health Insurance, said, “We are excited to partner with PhonePe and offer health insurance targeted at Gen Z and Millennials since people in that group are digital natives. The partnership between Star Health Insurance and PhonePe will provide consumers with a hassle-free payment option that is light on the pocket and at the same time meets their wellness needs. Today, health insurance has become a necessity. Given the high medical inflation in the country, it has become crucial to have an all-inclusive health cover that can protect at every stage of an individual’s life. At Star, we believe in keeping our customers healthy, and towards that end, customers buying our policies will not just get insurance but will also have access to free teleconsultations, homecare, and nutritionists, among other services. We look forward to expanding our digital reach through this partnership.”
Users can purchase the policy via the PhonePe app by clicking on the Health Insurance option, selecting the members to be insured, the desired sum to be insured and the payment tenure. Here, they can choose either monthly EMIs or annual payments and then select the policy of their choice. Once they opt for the policy, the customer’s have to fill in their details, such as name, age, and gender, followed by the health history of all members to be insured. This will be followed by a regulator mandated Know Your Customer (KYC) form and declarations, once the payment is completed.
Star Health, in association with PhonePe, plans to roll out more such innovative offerings across its indemnity and benefit products.