1 hr ago
India Inc Finds Preventive Health Benefits Deliver Insurance Savings
Companies are paying for services such as therapy, doctor consultations, health checkups, and gym memberships.
A Plum report says these services can help employees stay healthier.
Healthier employees may make fewer claims for chronic illnesses.
Companies with preventive-care benefits had 13% fewer chronic disease claims than similar companies without them.
This was linked to savings of about ₹480 per employee in insurance premiums.
Many employees used these benefits for the first time because their employers offered them.
The report says repeat health checkups improved important health measurements for 70% of users.
However, easier access may also make people use healthcare more often, increasing short-term costs.
The report says companies are increasingly treating health benefits as an investment rather than just insurance protection.
Plum’s report analyzed more than 15,000 policies covering one million lives over four years.
Companies offering preventive healthcare recorded 13% fewer chronic disease claims than comparable companies without those benefits.
The lower claims rate represented nearly ₹480 in premium savings per employee, with savings expected to compound by about 6% annually for three years.
Employers offering comprehensive health benefits increased from 5% to 23%, while healthcare’s share of benefits spending grew fourfold.
Employees used employer-provided health checkups, mental-health support, and gym memberships for the first time, while repeat checkups improved biomarkers for 70% of users.
- Who
- Indian employers, employees and dependents, with findings reported by Plum.
- What
- Companies are expanding preventive healthcare benefits, which the report links to fewer chronic claims and lower insurance premiums.
- Where
- India.
- When
- Plum’s Standard of Employee Benefits 2026 report examined data collected over a four-year period.
- Why
- Employers are using preventive care to improve workforce health while potentially reducing long-term insurance costs.
Preventive-care investment
Cost and utilization concerns
Financial value
Preventive-care investment
Employers can reduce long-term insurance costs by offering telehealth, checkups, screening, mental-health support and other preventive benefits.
Cost and utilization concerns
The report cautions that higher utilization could increase healthcare costs as employees use benefits more frequently.
Purpose of benefits
Preventive-care investment
Plum says companies are shifting from merely paying claims to proactively improving employee health, productivity and retention.
Cost and utilization concerns
Companies still need to manage budgets because expanded benefits and easier access may lead to substantially greater usage.
Key facts
- Data analyzed
- More than 15,000 policies covering one million lives
- Chronic disease claims
- 13% lower among companies with preventive healthcare in a matched comparison
- Estimated savings
- Nearly ₹480 per employee in premium savings
- Projected compounding
- Savings are expected to compound at close to 6% annually over the next three years
- Comprehensive benefits adoption
- Rose from 5% of employers to 23%
- First-time benefit use
- 61% used health checkups, 74% used mental-health support, and 31% used gym memberships for the first time
- Repeat checkup outcomes
- 70% of employees who repeated checkups saw clinically significant biomarker improvements
Quotes
Abhishek Poddar
Co-founder and CEO of Plum
“For years, the conversation around employee benefits in India began and ended with insurance. That's no longer where the best companies stop. What has changed is that employers are beginning to think about healthcare before a claim happens, not only protection when it does. That is a fundamental shift — from thinking of benefits as a checklist item to actually proactively building great health outcomes.”
livemint.com
“The next big challenge for companies is getting people to use the benefits they already have, for it to change an outcome.”
livemint.com
Sources
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