The Population Services International (PSI) Connect has teamed-up with Star Health & Allied Insurance to offer a dedicated product for the People Living with HIV (PLHIV). This is a first-of-its-kind insurance in the country for these patients. Right now, 258 cases have come under the scheme from the southern districts of Karnataka.

The key strategy was to create an affordable insurance in association with Star Health and this was a pilot project, Atul Kapoor, project director, PSI Connect told Pharmabiz.

The 258 patients have been identified based on their economic background. A key decision was made to pilot the policy for the first year in Karnataka which is a high HIV prevalence state. Under Project Connect, PSI associated with the Karnataka Network for Positive People (KNP+), which has a large PLHIV member base which made the State qualify to become an ideal location for the pilot project. A social mobilization campaign at the district level PLHIV networks helped to generate interest and motivate enrolment.

"This initiative will not just pilot insurance schemes that will address the needs of PLHIV, but will also strengthen future advocacy efforts with other private and public insurance companies at the national and international level," stated Kapoor.

Pre-insurance screening was facilitated through National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), a regional National AIDS Control Programme Accredited Centre in order to maintain accuracy and uniformity.

Globally insurance companies deny medical coverage for HIV positive individuals because such support is not financially viable. With the objective of engaging the insurance sector in India respond to HIV, PSI approached Star Health to better understand the product and to explore the role it could play in support of this initiative. The initial assessment showed that the policy needed to be significantly improved to meet the needs of PLHIV. It was also evident that a systematic marketing approach and a catalyzing effort was needed to make the insurance scheme a reality, informed Kapoor.

Four key elements of the marketing mix comprising product, place, price and promotion were assessed by PSI and Star Health. It included coverage of hospitalization expenses before the AIDS stage along with expected cover for the opportunistic infections which included hospitalization expenses in the pre-AIDS stages apart from consideration of the medical status of PLHIV and CD4 count levels as criteria for enrolment.

PSI negotiated with the insurance company to bring down the individual premium cost by about 40 per cent to an affordable level as the perceived value of the offering was considered low. Further, given the need to serve lower income PLHIV, a 50 per cent voucher was provided by the project as an incentive to the initial enrolees.