Award Applications

OPTIMA RESTORE WITH STAY ACTIVE BENEFIT
Optima Restore, our flagship product, was launched in 2012 and with its inception it changed the way the industry looked at health insurance. It made the ‘Unbelievable’ believable as it was the very first product in India (and elsewhere) to offer a restore benefit that not only automatically reinstates the basic sum insured, in case the insured exhausts their sum insured in a policy year, but also doubles the sum insured after two claim free years. These unbelievable benefits are offered automatically, and with no additional charge.

OPTIMA RESTORE CREATED HISTORY
For the first time in the history of insurance, there was a win-win situation for customers who claimed and those who did not. Besides winning multiple prestigious international and national accolades for its innovation, Optima Restore also took the industry by storm. All major players including private and PSU insurance followed suit and today offers reinstatement (recharge, regain etc.) and higher cumulative bonus in some form.

OPTIMA RESTORE RELOADED FOR THE FUTURE – A LEAP TO MAKE OUR CUSTOMERS HEALTH CONFIDENT

GAP ANALYSIS
Cut to 2016, there has been a marked increase in awareness about health insurance, the health insurance products have evolved from being plain vanilla mediclaim plans and so have customers’ lifestyles, needs and expectations. Although the acceptance for health insurance has increased but its engagement/use in a customer’s life remains reactive (use only in illness) instead of proactive. Hence the engagement level remains low. Also, those customers who maintain a healthy lifestyle hence do not claim, often ask why they should pay the same premium as those who are not so healthy.
Last but not the least, Apollo Munich believes that in order to make customers health confident, it is very important to partner with them towards good health besides being there for them when they need financial assistance during an unfortunate health episode.

MARKET RESEARCH
To understand the customers’ needs better and to offer an uncomplicated solution to their concerns, Apollo Munich conducted an in depth research amongst health insurance policyholders and intenders, along with Nielsen India Pvt. Ltd. in 19 cities.
The research revealed that almost 80% of respondents are fearful of health issues in the future and hence are keen to get fit, but seek simple ways to do so.
The research further revealed that 2/3rd of the respondents like the concept of incentivisation from their insurer for staying fit.

BRIDGING THE GAP

APOLLO MUNICH ‘STAY ACTIVE’ BENEFIT TO REWARD CUSTOMERS TO SIMPLY WALK TOWARDS BETTER HEALTH
With the above findings of simple way to stay active and get rewarded for the same, we conceptualized and launched the ‘Stay Active’ benefit under our flagship plans – Optima Restore and Easy Health- to reward and encourage our customers to lead more active lives by simply walking and get rewarded for doing what is good for them. This benefit has been designed keeping in mind that walking is the easiest and the most effective form of exercise to remain active and healthy.

HOW DOES IT WORK?
With smarter gadgets and wearables creating a new health wave in the country, the best way to track steps is to use a pedometer based application integrated with a smartphone. After having rounds of discussions with cross-functional teams, we created “Health Jinn” application as a platform to avail Stay Active benefit and have an enhanced customer engagement by empowering them to manage their policy and claims anywhere, anytime, with everything at their fingertips.
The policyholders of an all new Optima Restore and Easy Health can earn up to 8 percent renewal discount by simply walking. To avail the Stay Active benefit, customers just need to download Apollo Munich’s ‘Health Jinn’ app on their Apple or Android mobile phones from the app store. ‘Health Jinn’ app will simply count the number of steps one walks, and accordingly rewards the policyholders with 2, 5 or 8 percent renewal discount.

A note by Antony Jacob, Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Munich Health Insurance
“At Apollo Munich, we believe that it is our responsibility to support our customers in times of medical emergencies, and also partner with them in good health. With growing awareness of health insurance, people expect more from their insurers and our ‘Stay Active’ benefit is an initiative to offer that something extra to our customers. In our journey to uncomplicate health insurance offerings for the citizens if India, the easy to use ‘Stay Active’ benefit is a step in uncomplicating wellness offerings for health insurance customers. Walking is the simplest form of exercise and does not require any major investments, except for a pair of good shoes and the time to walk. We want to encourage more and more of our customers to get out of their homes and walk towards healthier futures, rather than be bogged down by the fear of health issues as they grow older.”

CONCLUSION
Today, as most companies are trying to enter the wellness space, we understand it is extremely important to add value to customers’ lives. With the help of deep understanding of our parent companies in the fields of healthcare and insurance, we have been able to come up with unique, innovative yet simple, uncomplicated solutions for our customers time and again. Our ‘Stay Active’ benefit is simple to use, understand, does not require any additional investment, joining a gym or any other classes, or use of additional gadgets (all the customer needs is a smart phone) and our customers can calculate their monetary advantage themselves. An innovation with simplification.