31 MAY,2023.
Universal cover (PG 8)(GS 3)
31 MAY,2023.
Last week, the chief of India’s insurance sector regulator unveiled a fresh blueprint to cover a larger portion of the population against risks of adverse shocks, with an eye on insuring everyone by 2047
. • The lynchpin of this “UPI-like moment”, being pursued by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to bridge the country’s “huge protection gaps”, is envisaged to be a simple, all-inone insura nce policy.
• This bundled ‘Bima Vistaar’ scheme, being worked out with life and general insurers, would provide households with expeditious monetary support in case of medical emergencies, accidents, thefts or a death in the family.
• With awareness about the benefi•ts of insurance still quite low, the regulator has proposed a women-led Gram Sabha-level initiative to educate every household’s female head about how such a scheme could come in handy at times of distress.
• A new ‘Bima Sugam’ platform would integrate insurance players and distributors to give customers a one-stop shop experience to begin with, and facilitate claims servicing going forward.
• Linking States’ digital death registries to the platform, the regulator believes, could enable life insurance claims to be settled within hours or a day at the most.