The Future of Health Insurance
Understanding the impact on the industry post pandemic.
Future of Health Insurance
Study to understand the impact on the industry post-pandemic.
Domain:
Design Research
Team:
A team of 5 designers.
I contributed as a Design Researcher
Duration:
2 weeks
This project was an outcome of the Research Methodology module during my 2nd Semester of Masters of Design at the National Institute of Design, India. Guided by Dr. Tripurasundari Joshi, Nirma University, and Mr. Vipul Vinzuda, National Insititute of Design, we were a team of 5 students from varied fields like New Media Design, Strategic Design Management Transportation and Automobile Design, and Apparel Design. Given the current scenario, the overarching theme for this research module was ‘Design For Health’, Under which each team had to do a deeper dive into one of the domains under health, and finalize their scope of research. Once the scope of the research is set, we would then move on to design a research methodology comprising of tools and techniques implemented to conduct and facilitate the research and come up with insights that can be converted into design directions
Keywords
Design Research, User Research, Strategy, Research Methodology, Course Module, NID, Opportunity Mapping, Research Paper
Getting Started
Health Insurances play a major role in how the healthcare systems operate.During the tough times of pandemic health insurances have been the best friend that you can depend on to make sure you and your family stay safe.The objective of this study is to understand the impact COVID-19 has had on the health insurance industry. We also aim to understand how the psychology of the buyers has changed post-pandemic. To understand the target audiences and how their needs and requirements have evolved and what might be the way forward for the insurance companies, hospitals, services providers and buyers for a better and more effective healthcare system. With the help of qualitative and quantitative research using methods like secondary and primary research, literature review, surveys, polls, in-depth interviews to gain a deeper understanding of the same.
Photo by Swarnavo Chakrabarti on Unsplash
Narrowing down
From a broader perspective, we were asked to research a topic from Healthcare Sector. What started as a very wide list of areas which we could work with, within a day or two with basic research and jotting down some very generic and also rare research topics while looking into the pros and cons of each from a research point of view, we decided to go with the area of Health Insurance.
Research questions
Then multiple sub-areas were studied and a handful of research questions were formed from which one was selected to go ahead with.
Safety isn't expensive
It's priceless and non-negotiable
Research Design
To delve into a more strategic approach, we got into streamlining our process for building the research activities and how feasible they were for the area of insurance in healthcare.
Photo by Anna Shvets from Pexels
Secondary Research
The phase of secondary research started the moment we were deciding on which research area to narrow down to. What followed were scrounging through the fine prints of several research papers and multiple insurance documents and studying the SoPs of IRDA, India (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) which is the governing body of insurance in India. In parallel, we were also studying the websites of multiple insurance providers (both public and private sector) and also the newer emerging online markets for these.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is an autonomous regulatory body that protects the interests of the policyholder. They oversee the growth of the insurance sector in India and also maintain a speedy development.
What general expenses are covered within Health insurance?
Things like room, boarding expenses, nursing expenses, fees of the surgeon, anesthetist, physicians, consultants, specialists. Material costs like anesthesia, blood, oxygen, operation theatre charges, surgical appliances, medicines, drugs, diagnostic materials, X-Ray, Dialysis, chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, Cost of a pacemaker, Artificial limbs, cost of organs, and similar expenses.
Types of health coverage
Government or state-based systems
Market-based systems (private and voluntary)
Employer provided insurance schemes
Member organization (NGO or cooperative)-based systems
The ones who are involved
Some findings
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India spends about 6% of GDP on health expenditure. Private health care expenditure is 75% or 4.25% of GDP and most of the rest (1.75%) is government funding.
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Experiences from other countries suggest that the entry of private firms into the health insurance sector, if not properly regulated, does have adverse consequences for the costs of care, equity, consumer satisfaction, fraud and ethical standards.
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A majority of insured population is covered under Employees’ State Insurance Scheme (ESIS) or government-sponsored schemes. Such schemes have significant coverage limitations.
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In India only about 2 per cent of total health expenditure is funded by public/social health insurance while 18 per cent is funded by government budget.
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Of the population with health insurance, 8% are covered by insurers other than government schemes and RSBY, 26% are covered under RSBY and other government schemes, 10% under ESIS and 0.26% under the central government health scheme (CGHS).
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In India only about 2 per cent of total health expenditure is funded by public/social health insurance while 18 per cent is funded by government budget.
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At present, the insurance coverage is negligible. Most of the public funding is for preventive, promotive and primary care programmes while private expenditure is largely for curative care.
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The most popular health Insurance cover is Mediclaim Policy.
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Out of one billion population of India 315 million people are estimated to be insurable and have capacity to spend Rs. 1000 as premium per annum.
Primary Research
Primary research is crucial to gather
first-hand data from specific resources help any researcher to further analyze and gain meaningful insights.
For the primary research phase, we conducted in-depth interviews, online surveys, and social media polls to collect primary data.
Survey
A questionnaire was created and floated online via Google Forms which was shared through various channels like WhatsApp groups, Instagram, and direct messaging. A total of 40 entries were received over a period of 5 days.
Few questions from the questionnaire.
-Are you covered under a health insurance?
- Who all are covered in the insurance?
-Which health insurance are you covered under?
-Is your health insurance 1)Private 2)government3)Employer provided?
-Did you health insurance give you a COVID cover?
- Do you think health insurances are important to have, especially given the pandemic scenario?
--Do you feel the need to change your health insurance post COVID?
-What are the parameters you look for when deciding to buy an insurance?
-What platforms do you use to buy insurance?
-Are you familiar with the terms of your insurance policy?
- Have you ever claimed insurance for hospital charges for yourself or someone you know?
- Whom did you approach for when availing the insurance?
Survey Insights
In-depth Interviews
For the next part of the primary research, a series of in-depth interviews were conducted. Instead of in-person face to face, these interviews were conducted via voice or video call.
We conducted interviews with 2 existing policyholders, 1 person willing to get health insurance, 1 insurance agent, and 1 TPA agent.. Their names and identities have been hidden owing to privacy issues.
What they had to say
Be Your Customer- Netnography
This was a very interesting method of primary research for our team. We were inspired by different methods of primary research conducted by the team at THINK design which was showcased during the session conducted by Hari Nallan.
Be your customer was one of them which is almost something of an ethnographic process in which we acted out as interested buyers. When tabulating our findings, we looked at it both from a buyer's and an agent's perspectives, and then we created a sample user journey based on the findings. For this, telephonic calls to an insurance agent, a TPA agent, and visits to two insurance online websites were carried out.
Social Media Polls
After the findings from the primary and secondary research were analyzed, a few opportunity areas were recognized. To further strengthen the opportunity area statements and understand the common consensus regarding the same, a poll was floated on Instagram through its story feature. The results were very fascinating. Few of the responders even came ahead with their own statements of what more they expect from modern health insurance offerings.
Around 100 responses were received which were extracted from 4 Instagram accounts of the research team members.
Journey of prospective buyer
Neha, 40, is an IT consultant who lives with her husband and two kids, aged 7 and 12. Although she has insurance provided by her employer company, she wants some extra coverage for COVID treatment for her family just to be safe.
Insights
Some other insights from social media polls
Opportunity Areas
In conclusion
Through the turbulent times of COVID -19, we have realized the importance of health insurance and health care systems. The years 2020 and 2021 have shown an episode of the dystopian world it can be with the crumbling healthcare and economy and its devastating effects on people’s lives. This has been a major eye-opener for many. Health insurances are no longer seen as something only parents need to deal with. Studies showed that post covid millennials and women have emerged as the new and upcoming target segment for health insurance. This new user is more aware and interested in finding security amid the uncertainty around them. They are looking for a new approach to the healthcare securities and systems that are restructured in the future to make them more inclusive, user-friendly, accessible, transparent, more lifestyle-centered, and holistic.
