PhonePe partners with Star Health Insurance to offer insurance with monthly payment options

NEW DELHI: PhonePe has announced a strategic partnership with Star Health and Allied Insurance Company Ltd (Star Health Insurance), India's largest retail health insurance company.

The collaboration aims to provide customers with health insurance options with monthly and annual payment choices, enhancing flexibility and convenience for users.

Through this partnership, PhonePe users gain access to Star Health Insurance's Comprehensive Health Insurance policy, with coverage extending up to Rs 1 crore.

Star Health and Allied Insurance is the largest retail health insurance company in India. As of December 31, 2023, Star Health has 877 branch offices across India. The company has 14,203 network hospitals pan India. The distribution network of the company has 6.84 lakh

agents, which is among the largest in the insurance sector. In FY23, Star Health had a gross

written premium of Rs 12,952 crore and a net worth of Rs 5,430 crore.

PhonePe is India's leading fintech company. Phonepe is India's leading consumer payments app, with 520+ million registered users and a digital payments acceptance network of 38 million merchants. PhonePe also processes 230+ million daily transactions with an annualised Total Payment Value of over USD 1.5 trillion.

This partnership marks the first time that Star Health Insurance's, Comprehensive Health package is offered with a monthly premium payment plan, pioneered by PhonePe, a pioneering move in the industry.

Users can also leverage the UPI AutoPay mandate for seamless premium payments, further streamlining the insurance experience.

The introduction of monthly payment options addresses a crucial insight - smaller, manageable payments alleviate financial strain while empowering individuals to opt for comprehensive insurance coverage without compromising their finances.

Star Comprehensive Insurance Policy, available through this collaboration, includes features such as OPD and maternity coverage.

The Star Comprehensive Insurance Policy offers benefits like, coverage for road and air ambulance expenses, outpatient consultations, dental and ophthalmic treatments, maternity expenses, organ donor expenses, newborn baby coverage, and mental well-being coverage, among others.

Additionally, the policy does not impose sub-limits for day-care procedures and provides coverage for accidental death and permanent total disablement up to Rs 1 crore.

The policy also offers wellness programs with premium discounts, annual health check-ups, automatic restoration of the sum insured, cumulative bonuses, etc to enhance value proposition for consumers.

Vishal Gupta, CEO of PhonePe Insurance, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, emphasizing PhonePe's commitment to bolstering insurance adoption and penetration in India.

Gupta said, "PhonePe is excited about this partnership with Star Health. Star's differentiated benefits combined with PhonePe's distribution, customer-centric approach and simple DIY journeys will help turbocharge insurance adoption and penetration in the country. We are on a mission to help turn India from an underinsured nation to one that is adequately insured and view this partnership with Star as a crucial milestone in this journey."

Anand Roy, MD and CEO of Star Health Insurance, highlighted the partnership's significance in catering to the digital-native Gen Z and Millennial demographics.

Roy said, "We are excited to partner with PhonePe and offer health insurance targeted at Gen Z and Millennials since people in that group are digital natives. The partnership between Star Health Insurance and PhonePe will provide consumers with a hassle-free payment option that is light on the pocket and at the same time meets their wellness needs. Today, health insurance has become a necessity."

He added, "Given the high medical inflation in the country, it has become crucial to have an all-inclusive health cover that can protect at every stage of an individual's life. At Star, we believe in keeping our customers healthy, and towards that end, customers buying our policies will not just get insurance but will also have access to free teleconsultations, home care, and nutritionists, among other services. We look forward to expanding our digital reach through this partnership."

Users can purchase the policy via the PhonePe app, selecting the desired coverage, payment tenure, and payment frequency.

Subsequently, the policy provides necessary personal and health information, completes the Know Your Customer (KYC) process, and makes the payment to finalise the policy.