Plea for reasonable cover for elderly

Families with senior citizens are searching for ‘reasonable’ cost medical cover for their elderly while many health insurance companies are either not taking the high risk age group or are charging high rates.

While health insurance is becoming mandatory in different emirates, families with aged people are facing a paradox of either paying high premiums or sending their elderly home where there may be no one to take care of them – if insurance is refused.

Speaking to Emirates 247, residents who have aged parents living with them, said taking a healthcare insurance package for their 60-plus parents is a tough task.

“In the case of motor insurance, younger drivers are charged higher premiums than their elder counterparts because the risk of accident is more for young drivers. In the case of health insurance, the aged customers have to pay more premium than young people because the insurance risk is more for aged people,” says Abdul Azees, General Manager at Aster DM Healthcare.

He said globally aged people have higher premiums because the risk is more as you grow older and older.

“In the health insurance business, the risk is more for people above 45 years of age,” he added.

“My mother is 73 years old. We have approached a number of insurance companies. Some outright reject her due to old age, and some demand Dh2,000 per month. The annual premium offered was Dh18,000 and above. Now we have renewed her visa without taking the health insurance,” said Sindhu K, a UAE resident for many years.

Representatives of health insurance providers said they are all working out special insurance packages for the elderly and just one company is offering an elderly package for Dh2,500 per year.

“People above 60 years of age have high risk. Almost 95 per cent people above 60 years can have chronic diseases like diabetics, cholesterol, blood pressure etc. If we give insurance coverage to them, reinsurance underwriters will not take the risk. In the underwriting agreement, they will ask for a declaration. A diabetic patient in that age group will have monthly blood test, regular medication, hospitalisation and other costs. In some cases, immediate hospitalisation is needed and the underwriters will ask for higher premiums in the range of Dh100,000 to Dh400,000 – depending on the individual cases,” said Abdul Azees.

“Such a patient would need Dh2,000 per year for regular investigation. Dh2,000 to Dh3,000 for medication and other expenses. This has been a global trend always because the risk factors are more for an elderly customer,” he added.

“Above sixty age bracket from an insurance perspective is different from a healthy regular working person who is active at work place. Those who are in the age group of 60-plus have more health issues and their frequency of hospital visit and inpatient treatment is more than an active man or woman. The possibility of having a heart attack is significantly higher. While the possibility of heart attack for younger people is 30 out of 1,000, for aged people it can be 70 out of 1,000 or more. Such difference is reflected in the premium too,” said Shyam Shankar, Head of Bank Assurance, RAK Insurance.

“They can have many other diseases, and when we calculate the premium, there is huge difference between 30 and 60 year group,” he added.

RAK insurance, like many other insurance companies, is to launch parents coverage products in the UAE after getting due approvals.

“Without proper regulation, the premium for elderly people will be as high as Dh30,000 to Dh40 000 because there are many parameters that decide the premium. Even if the aged people get a health insurance package, the waiting period for pre-existing disease is two years or more. Normally there are two or more years of waiting to get insurance benefits for pre-existing diseases for the elderly people,” he added.

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