S Prakash, CEO-designate, Health Insurance, General Insurance Council

One of the immediate tasks, Prakash will undertake- taking forward the ongoing negotiations with hospitals to bring them under the common empanelment platform that will facilitate payment of uniform rates and charges by insurers  to the  hospitals.Though, there are over 77,000 hospitals in the country, the Council has so far managed to bring around  just 3000 hospitals under their common empanelment platform

Hyderabad/Mumbai:After witnessing a rapid growth in the health insurance business, particularly post the zero-GST(Goods  & Services Tax) regime in the retail health insurance segment since Sept, 2025, the insurers have now sharpened their strategies to undertake new reforms in the sector, including further strengthening their relationship with the Indian healthcare ecosystem by removing  several  bottlenecks, to make health insurance business a profitable business for the industry.

Though, the Health Insurance is the largest portfolio(contributing over 38.50 per cent of total premium of Rs 3.08 trillion in FY 25)of the general insurance industry, with a combined ratio of over 120 per cent, it is a loss making business for them due to several structural and technical  factors involving varied high rates charged by hospitals, frauds and leakages, issues in claim settlement, and low penetration.

Any combines ratio beyond 100 per cent means the insurers are having underwriting losses by paying more claims over premiums they are earning.  

For the first time, General  Insurance Council(GI Council), the official representative body of general  re/insurers, has created a new post of CEO-Health Insurance with a market linked annual salary of around Rs 3 crore to sperarhead the arduous task of reforms in the sector. CEO-Health Insurance will be reporting to executive committee and Health Insurance committee of the GI Council, which is headed by a secretary general.

Dr S Praksh, a qualified surgeon and a former long time MD & CEO of Star Health Insurance, the first stand alone health insurance company in the country and currently a senior consultant with Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, has been selected to helm the new assignment.

Prakash is expected to join his new job in Mumbai by Jan 7.

A committee of general insurers including Anuj Tyagi, MD& CEO, HDFC Ergo General , Mayank Bathwal, MD&CEO, Aditya Biral Health Insurance,  Anand Roy, MD & CEO, STAR Health Insurance, Krishnan Ramachandran – MD & CEO at Niva Bupa Health Insurance had selected Prakash for the job after the post was advertised.

One of the immediate tasks, Prakash will undertake-taking forward the ongoing negotiations with hospitals to bring them under the common empanelment platform that will facilitate payment of uniform rates and charges by insurers  to the  hospitals.

Though, there are over 77,000 hospitals in the country, the Council has so far managed to bring around  just 3000 hospitals under their common empanelment platform and currently over 7,000 hospitals have applied to become members of common empanelment platform which are getting scrutinised.

Along with the insurers, the government and the insurance regulator IRDAI are also equally  concerned about the state of affairs in the health insurance industry which is making the health  covers expensive  and unaffordable for the people.

Recently, Parliament had discussed  government data highlight widespread health insurance claim rejections in India, reaching thousands of crores (₹26,000 Cr in FY23-24) due to issues like policy exclusions, incorrect info, delays, and a perceived nexus between insurers and hospitals, prompting calls for stronger consumer protection, stricter timelines, and mandatory clear justifications for denials, with policyholders empowered to approach the Insurance Ombudsman for unresolved issues.

Meanwhile, GI Council has advertised for its secretary general post after Inderjeet Singh, quit the job to become the Insurance Ombudsman, Patna.

Similarly, Life Insurance Council will soon have a new secretary general after SN Bhattachjarya ends his tenure soon.