Health insurance premiums can increase because of medical inflation and age-band loading
Health insurance customers in the UAE can now lock their insurance premiums for up to five years under a new add-on launched by a brokerage firm.
Called Health Insurance Premium Lock by Policybazaar.ae, the add-on allows customers to keep their premium at the same rate they signed up with for up to five years.
According to the company, customers will be protected from premium increases linked to medical inflation and age-band loading during the lock period. The add-on is available on selected health insurance plans through Policybazaar.ae for residents of Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
The company said that the health insurance premiums can increase because of medical inflation and age-band loading. The company said medical inflation can add 5 to 10 per cent to premiums each year, while customers moving into a higher age bracket can face premium increases of 20 to 25 per cent at renewal.
According to data from the firm, nearly 40 per cent of customers who faced a premium increase at renewal had no pre-existing conditions and had not made a single claim.
The company said the add-on is available at an additional cost above the standard health insurance premium. Customers who purchase it can keep the same premium for up to five consecutive years.
Neeraj Gupta, CEO of Policybazaar.ae, said customers often raised concerns about premium increases when their policies came up for renewal.
“Renewal season should not be a moment of anxiety, it should be a formality. What we heard from our customers, year after year, was that the moment their renewal landed, the trust they had built with their insurer took a hit,” he said.
Gupta said the add-on allows customers to continue paying the same premium they saw when they first signed up.
Toshita Chauhan, chief Blbusiness officer at Policybazaar.ae, said one of the most common complaints from customers was learning about premium increases only at renewal.
“The most common thing we heard at renewal was ‘nobody told me it would go up’. That single sentence shaped everything about how we designed Health Insurance Premium Lock,” she said.
Chauhan said customers who choose the add-on can keep the same premium for five years regardless of age-related premium increases during the lock period.
The add-on is available to adult policyholders up to the age of 60 who do not have any declared pre-existing conditions.
