Health insurance has very low penetration in the middle-middle and lower-middle income segments in India. There is also a very large potential for improvement in the quality and extent of coverage for people who have a health insurance policy. The ongoing global pandemic has drastically advanced the potential for online distribution of health insurance. Health insurance market is expected to gain market growth in the forecast period of 2020 to 2027.

Data Bridge Market Research analyses the market to account to USD 2,259,670.09 million by 2027 growing at the CAGR of 4.4%. The growing cost of healthcare and need for efficient processes without the inconvenience caused due to payment processes will help in driving the growth of health insurance market.

Sana.Insure, founded in May, 2019 applied to the IRDAI for Direct General Broking license in October 2019, and received the Certificate of Registration in February, 2020. The company is broking partners with 25 health insurers and general insurers offering health insurance. The Sana.Insure portal was launched in July 2020 with 5 insurers, which has increased to 12 insurers by now.

The foundation journey of the company happened out of conversations between Loy, Srinath, Vivek and Nayan about how to use digital technologies to help people with their healthcare needs. They found that the very large gap in health insurance penetration in India seemed unlikely to be bridged with the distrust, distribution models and cost structures that prevailed in the market. The right use of digital technologies, built on the bedrock of absolute integrity, transparency, and service and caring will help uninsured families obtain the right health insurance.

Moreover, Sana.Insure leverages digital technologies to make health insurance accessible to a much wider group of people than it is today. It has found that consumers worry about the complexity involved in making the decision, and fear hidden terms and conditions.

People are also concerned that the sellers will push certain products to them which may not be optimum. To get past these barriers, Sana has painstakingly built Sanabase, a proprietary database of Indian health insurance products and plans. By going through and analyzing each of the brochures, prospectus and policy documents, each plan has been parameterized into more than 150 standardized features, benefits and limits. Sanabase is available through the portal at Sana.Insure, to help customers understand, compare and select the right health insurance plan.

The company has embedded digital intelligence into the portal, so that it configures itself based on available detail about each visitor arriving at the portal. It is the first health insurance portal in the country to have a Hinglish version, with an easy-to-understand language. Also, sana.insure has its own custom-built rule-engine Sanaliser on Sanabase, and a chat engine, SanaBot, powered by a unique combination of Google's Dialog Flow and open-source algorithms. "We don't stop after the customer purchases a health insurance policy through us. We use digital technologies to help with claims, endorsements and renewals, for families as well as organizations that buy health insurance through us" signifies Srinath Mukherji, Co-Founder at Sana Insurance Brokers.

Sana has painstakingly built Sanabase, a proprietary database of Indian health insurance products and plans

Leveraging Digital Technology to Reach more and Appropriate Individuals
Sana.Insure distributes general insurance products, such as health, personal accident, motor and property from all insurers. The services include helping families, compare, select and buy the right health insurance through the portal and aiding the retail customers perform part of the buying journey on Whatsapp through 24x7 support of SanaBot. They assist retail customers with claims, endorsements and porting of their policies through the dedicated customer care center.

They will provide a free service, SanaCheck, to families wherein a detailed, standardized and automated report is prepared by the rule engine. Sana strongly believes that it would be an early bird and will slowly build the business and wait for a gradual switch in buyer-behavior, from face-to- face agent driven sale to online purchase. Also, the firm believes that digital technologies, if leveraged properly, can now trigger explosive growth in health insurance in India. These technologies can directly address the main factors that have constrained affordable and inclusive health insurance distribution and growth in India.

Sana.Insure is keenly looking forward to raise capital from institutional investors in the coming months to spend more aggressively in brand building and customer acquisition. The company plans to provide a phygital experience to the customers through the POS model. Over time, it desires to work with insurers to launch specialized products for those with pre-existing disease such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiac issues. The company is building recommendation engine, SRE, on Sanaliser and Sanabase.

SRE will provide customers a rank-ordered short list of health insurance plans that are right for their specific needs and profile. Furthermore, sana.insure is about to launch a unique and free service, Sana Check, to customers who already have a health insurance policy. SanaCheck will use a combination of Sanaliser and Sanabase, to analyze existing policies in detail and alert customers about features that they should be aware of.