More than 9,200 customers of Aditya Birla Health Insurance Company Limited got 100 percent of their annual health insurance premium back in FY26 under the company’s wellness-linked insurance programme, as the insurer increasingly uses rewards for healthy behaviour to improve customer retention and manage rising medical costs.
Overall, around 2.03 lakh customers earned between 6% and 100% of their premiums back in FY26, accounting for nearly 11% of eligible customers, up from 8.5% in FY25 and around 6% in FY24, Mayank Bathwal, Chief Executive Officer of Aditya Birla Health Insurance, told businessline. “The idea is simple — if customers stay healthy, hospitalisation chances reduce, claims reduce and the overall insurance portfolio improves,” Bathwal said during a visit to Ahmedabad to launch “Activ Yuva”, a wellness-focused health insurance plan targeted at younger consumers.
The insurer said customers who actively participated in wellness programmes showed over 8% better claim ratios and more than 11% higher policy renewals, encouraging the company to deepen its focus on preventive healthcare and fitness-linked incentives. Bathwal said the company launched its “Health First” model in 2016 to engage customers beyond just selling insurance policies. “Mainly people above 35 buy health insurance and because of lifelong renewability, portfolios age over time. We wanted to work with customers to help them lead healthier lives. If customers are healthy, our claims come down and the business becomes better,” he said.
The company’s push towards wellness-linked insurance comes even as health insurers grapple with steep medical inflation, which Bathwal estimated at 12–14% annually. “If healthcare costs keep rising at 12–14%, technically premiums also have to rise by similar levels because we are ultimately paying hospitals on behalf of customers,” he said.
According to Bathwal, healthcare inflation — rather than distribution expenses — remains the biggest reason behind rising insurance premiums. “India has to find a way to make healthcare affordable. We cannot run the US model,” he said.
The insurer said consumer behaviour has also shifted sharply after Covid, with customers opting for higher coverage despite rising premiums. “Today around 80% of our business comes from policies with sum assured above ₹10 lakh. People do not want to compromise on healthcare quality,” Bathwal said. Aditya Birla Health Insurance currently covers around 24 million customers and reported overall growth of around 39%, with nearly half the growth coming from customer additions and the rest from higher ticket sizes.
The company is also increasing the use of AI and automation in underwriting and claims processing. Bathwal said nearly 15–20% of pre-authorisation approvals are now being processed within one to two minutes using AI-led systems and OCR-based document processing. The insurer’s claim settlement ratio currently stands at around 97%, he added.
Published on May 21, 2026
