‘We want to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable’

Recently, Aetna International, a Fortune 100 company, invested Rs 100 crores in its fully owned subsidiary, Indian Health Organisation (IHO). Manasije Mishra, MD, Indian Health Organisation, in an interaction with Sanjiv Das, divulges more about the utilisation of the investment and about IHO’s initiatives to enhance healthcare in India

How will the recent investment of Rs 100 crores by Aetna International in Indian Health Organisation (IHO) help improve healthcare access? In which programmes/ solutions would these funds be utilised?

Our vision is to become a healthcare partner for our members, helping them to stay healthy at every stage of their journey. We want to make quality healthcare accessible and affordable.

We have developed a number of innovative products and services and there are many new ones in the pipeline. These include digital health solutions which will primarily focus on preventive care. This is the expertise that Aetna has developed by working with individuals, healthcare providers and governments over the last 160 years in the US. We will also be using the funds to invest in technology, customer service and distribution.

Recently, you have launched Classic Family Consultation membership. What are the benefits of this product?

Classic Consultation plan was developed with a focus to enable Indian families manage their day to day medical expenses effectively. The product offers:

• Unlimited tele-consultation – Even for a minor health concern, you need not rely on self-medication, surfing on the Internet, etc. Our medical experts are available to you for providing expert advice.
• 10 free doctor consultations at quality hospitals and clinics to pay for your families’ medical needs.
• Dental: Free consultations at IHO network dental clinics and discounts upto 30 per cent on further treatment.
• Risk assessment and health check for two members: Comprehensive health check-up covering 61 tests for understand the risks
• Professional guidance and motivation: Professional guidance on diet management, lifestyle changes, simple exercises to manage your health.
• Discounts at IHO Network centres: IHO Network advantage to ensure that your savings on every penny that you spend on health.

1. 10–15 per cent discount on medicines at retail pharmacies,
2. 15 – 25 discount on diagnostic tests for your family members
3. 10– 20 discount on minor treatment/ hospitalisation at top hospitals/ nursing homes
4. Upto 50 per cent discount on any additional consultation at clinics/ nursing homes
5. Our service team helps to make any appointments you need.

This is a health solution that delivers convenience and quality at an affordable cost of Rs 5880 for a family of four for one year. The product enables tax savings up to Rs 1500. We estimate this product will help a family save at least 50 per cent on health related expenses in a year. Considering then a normal family in a metro spends around Rs 20,000 – 30000 in year on health, this is a significant saving.

Which are the other products you intend to launch in the Indian market?

Our product pipeline looks strong and we’ll be launching several new products in 2017. We would be delighted to share details once these products are ready.

Apart from catering to the urban population, do you also plan to reach out in rural areas?

IHO has a strong physical network of health partners across 38 Indian cities.  In the next three months, our Classic Consultation plan will be expanded from five cities to 25 cities.

Our tele-consultation services can be accessed from anywhere and we believe this is very useful in small towns and villages where it is difficult to access quality medical services. This is backed up with an online pharmacy service which can deliver quality medicines at a 25 per cent discount anywhere in India. We are already distributing such products in over 500 cities. We are in discussion with some partners to further expand this into rural India during 2017.

What are your plans/ initiatives to improve healthcare in the next three years?

We see a lot of our customers talking to us about how IHO membership has helped them realise their health problems before any complications could arise and take preventive action. Recently, one customer was saying that ‘he realised that he was diabetic because of free check-up that he got through his IHO membership and was happy that he could manage his condition effectively before any complication could arise.’ These stories will serve as a real motivation behind our future initiatives.

What are the opportunities and challenges specific to India? How do you plan to leverage the opportunities?

I see three big challenges:

• Fast-paced life, sedentary lifestyle, self-medication, rising burden of chronic diseases, lack of proper knowledge about the preventive health.
• Healthcare expenses are on the rise, much faster than the average inflation rate. Not only on hospitalisation, but also on day-to-day medical expenses like consultation, diagnosis, medicines, minor treatment and home care treatments.
• India is a country where funding for healthcare is a serious problem. Insurance penetration is low and the government only spends about three per cent of GDP on health. Hence, over 60 per cent of the health expenses have to be self-funded.

We will focus on preventive health by providing our members the knowledge, tools, professional guidance and motivation to manage health. In addition, when our members need treatment, we will help them access quality healthcare at a discount. We will help cut down the cost of healthcare.

Why do you think India is lagging behind when it comes to health insurance?

We are not an insurance company and we focus on discounted pre-paid health packages that make quality healthcare affordable. Our products provide considerable savings on out of pocket expenses on a day-to-day medical expenses that are usually not paid for by employers or insurance companies.

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