The Ken

Five times the premium, a fifth of the coverage in critical medical cases—seniors are getting shortchanged by health insurers. Find out how at the link in the comments. ------------ Reporting: Sudeshna Ray, Edit: Sneha Swaminathan, Illustration: Aishwarya N. #TheKen #SeniorCare #Insurance #HealthInsurance #PrivateInsurance #Healthcare

India's young millionaires are defying family norms to create new sources of wealth. Host Snigdha Sharma explains how in this episode of Daybreak. Youtube - https://lnkd.in/gcz_yrtw Apple - https://lnkd.in/gSR5Rcnc Spotify - https://lnkd.in/gb5-HT93 ----------- #TheKen #Millionaire #FamilyOffice #Investor #Investing

Talking about health insurance with senior citizens is like broaching the subject of root canals—not exactly something you bring up over tea. But my colleague Sudeshna spent the last couple of weeks chatting with a few of them about their experiences. What she found is that for India’s elderly, health insurance isn’t so much a safety net as it is a reluctant truce with private insurers. There exists an unspoken rule: as long as you don’t actually use it, insurance is happy to sit quietly in your drawer. But the moment you try, the premiums start ballooning into a birthday surprise no one in their sixties, seventies, or eighties was hoping for. With private insurance, seniors face sky-high costs that rise like clockwork on one side and bureaucratic hoops on the other. Small wonder only about 18% of India’s elderly are even covered, and those who are find themselves in what the industry calls the “red zone”—high risk, high cost, with coverage that often falls painfully short. The problem isn’t the number of insurance products. But, as an industry veteran tells Sudeshna, “It’s a loss-making proposition.” That’s why the Indian government’s new initiative under the Ayushman Bharat scheme comes as a shake-up. It offers seniors health coverage of Rs 5 lakh without income checks, massive premiums, or cryptic fine print. It’s simple. It’s accessible. And for a demographic often overlooked by the private sector, it’s monumental. Already, states like Rajasthan and Gujarat are seeing seniors opting for no-fuss public coverage. So, as affordable public insurance becomes a real alternative, private insurers are finally forced to rethink their “red zone” calculus. But will anything change? To find out what insurers are missing about elder care, you’ve got to read Sudeshna Ray’s Big Story today.

Pay up when you’re young and private health insurance still won’t back you when you’re old. Take the case of Bisham Malkani, a retired sales professional. The 83-year-old has had five decades of bad runs with insurers—both private and public—before landing a Rs 50 lakh health cover from private insurer Bajaj Allianz. And for that, Malkani is only paying Rs 53,000 as an annual premium. For context, a person aged over 60 pays Rs 30,000–50,000 as annual premium for a tenth of Malkani’s cover. Even policies for Rs 6–10 lakh are harder to find and cost Rs 40,000–70,000 annually. That’s about 5X the premium someone younger would pay for the same coverage. It’s not just the high premiums; these policies are of little help to seniors when they need it the most. Sudeshna Ray has the story: https://lnkd.in/gviA9ba6

🔓 There was a ~1,000% rise in the sales of medicines containing a combination of Escitalopram (antidepressant) & Clonazepam (sedative) in 2023, compared with the year-ago levels, as per Pharmarack. But there's only one psychiatrist for 140,000 people in India—below the WHO-recommended level of at least three per 100,000—forcing general physicians to fill the gap. Read this Feb 2024 story by Shivani Verma for free by signing up for our 30-day free trial. Click the link in the comments. ------------ #TheKen #Psychiatry #Psychiatrist #Medicine #MentalHealth #Healthcare

What does Ola Electric's future hold? The EV maker has been in the spotlight these last three months, ever since it was listed on the Indian stock market—often for reasons that aren’t at all encouraging for a company that once drove electric two-wheeler adoption in India. In Two by Two, hosts Rohin Dharmakumar and Praveen Gopal Krishnan speak with Jinesh Gandhi, Research Director at Ambit, and Narayan Sundararaman—the ex-CMO at Bajaj Auto—to understand: • What has happened to Ola Electric • How the firm blew its lead • What does its future look like Click the link in the comments. -------------- #TheKen #Ola #OlaElectric #EV #ElectricVehicle #StockMarket #StockMarketNews

Artwork, jewellery, vintage cars, rare wines… India’s 1% spend quite a penny on all. But what’s got them hooked now are luxury watches. And they aren't just using it to "communicate success", but they're also making money through it. Rounak Kumar Gunjan explains how in this week's Ka-Ching! Click the link in the comments. ---------- #TheKen #Finance #Watches #LuxuryWatch

Family offices are booming across India, going from 45 to 300 in just six years—and this isn't just a big-city affair. Families are venturing away from real estate and gold to unconventional bets like startups, hedge funds, and more. But can they balance the risk of innovation with the stability of their established businesses? Host Snigdha Sharma explores in Daybreak. Click the link in the comments. ------------ #TheKen #Millionaire #FamilyOffice #Investor #Investing

Health insurance for the elderly is both inadequate in coverage and exorbitant in premiums. After the age of 45, premiums spike dramatically if you have a policy; if you don’t, getting one at a reasonable rate is difficult. With the government now doubling down on health insurance for everyone over 70 under Ayushman Bharat, there is a silver lining for seniors. With one hand in private health insurance and another in their pockets, hoping they don’t have to pay for a sudden health crisis, my story for The Ken looks at seniors in either boat, now curious about how the government's insurance might work. Read to find out. https://lnkd.in/eNTqxQb7

The Big Story | Ayushman Bharat: insurers get a kick in the pants as India’s elderly get free health cover Five times the premium, a fifth of the coverage in critical medical cases—seniors are getting shortchanged by health insurers, reports Sudeshna Ray. Read the full story by clicking the comments. ----------- #TheKen #Insurance #HealthInsurance #PrivateInsurance #Healthcare