Insurance Terminologies – III

In this 3rd installment of Insurance Terminologies series, let’s look at couple of the jargons which comes across during health insurance purchase or claims.

• Cumulative Bonus: Cumulative Bonus, as the name suggests, is an increase in the sum insured for the claim free year. This terminology is used in health insurance. This means if the customer has not made any claim for an year, there will be a percentage increase in sum insured which is generally 5% to 10% and can also range from 10% to 50% which varies from insurer to insurer. The maximum bonus given is 50%. One important thing to be noted is that the cumulative bonus is provided on the basic sum insured. For example, if the basic sum insured is INR 100000 and there is no claim made by the customer, the sum insured will be increased by 10% at the time of renewal and hence the new sum insured becomes INR 110000 for the next year. If no claim is reported again in the subsequent year, the cumulative bonus of 10% (10% of 100000=10000) will be provided and the total sum insured will become INR 120000 ( 110000+10000= 120000). As you can see cumulative bonus is calculated on basic sum insured which is INR 100000 in the given example and it is accumulated for every claim free year. The cumulative bonus is added to the sum insured of preceding year which becomes the new sum insured for subsequent year (110000+10000= 120000).
• Waiting period: Waiting period is the duration for which the coverage is not provided. Health insurance policies have waiting period of 30-60 days. This means any claim made during this period is not payable even though if the loss occurred due to the risks covered in the policy. Any claim made post waiting period is payable provided the loss would have occurred due to the perils covered in the policy. One important point to be noted is that for pre-existing disease, waiting period is 48 months (4 years). Pre-existing diseases are covered after 4 years from the inception of the policy.

– Ashish Kumar

The best is yet to come

Cursed in the middle of life.
Darkened by the absence of light.
Depressed by the fall of a fruitful tree.
Receiving problem from life without fee.
Moving in the unknown path.
In search of a new path.
May be the chance is not much.
But the best is yet to come.

During of midst of good and bad.
Thought whether life has made me mad.
Shivered from the sudden demise of hope.
I am finding the cape of good hope.
Life is never problem free.
Wondered is life is a problem for me?
Finding solution which is some.
As the best is yet to come.

Haunted memoirs often come in my dream.
Burning those memoirs with my new dream.
Loving the problems is my new hobby.
As I do love my hobby.
Life has no meaning without problems.
Attitude is to tackle the problem.
Although one may not always succeed.
Try and take risk in order to proceed.
Life gave many startling situations.
Paved me to take startling decisions.
Left in an uncertain and sudden void.
I cried a lot with inner voice.
Body shivered and heart crippled.
I was left with nothing settled.
Accepted the tragedy with stone-hearted heart.
As I have to start from scratch first.
Sooner or later I will stand and come.
As the best is yet to come.
The best is yet to come.

– Ashish Kumar

Accidental deaths and suicide – A serious concern

Death is certain and it is the ultimate truth. One will die for sure after birth. Accidental deaths and suicidal deaths are unfortunate. There are several problems that India is facing like inflation, corruption, unemployment etc. People die due to several reasons like heart attack, cancer, murder, natural disaster, poverty, accidents, suicide etc.

Death due to accidents and suicide is unfortunate. But it doesn’t mean that death due to other causes is fortunate. This article highlights the accidental deaths and suicidal deaths in India. In my previous article, I have addressed the issue of suicide. It is surprising that instead of several awareness campaigns, people are dying due to accidents. Let’s look at the statistics of accidental deaths and suicides from 2011 to 2015 which is given in the following table.

Table 1: Accidental deaths and suicidal deaths in India
Year	Accidental deaths	Suicidal deaths
2011	390884	135585
2012	394982	135445
2013	400517	134799
2014	451757	131666
2015	413457	133623
Source: National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

From the above table, the accidentals deaths and suicide does not have an increasing/decreasing pattern. Accidental deaths were most in 2014 which was 451757 and suicidal deaths were most in 2011, reporting to 135585. Suicidal deaths decreased from 2011 to 2014 but again increased in 2015. It is surprising to see that the number of suicides in India is more than a lakh per year. There can be several reasons for suicides like poverty, farmer suicides, love failure, not getting what desired, exam failure, frustration, depression etc.

The number of accidental deaths is more than 4 lakh in a year which is alarming. What can be the root cause of accidents? Accident does not only mean road accident. Road accident is one of the type of accident. Broadly accident can be classified as natural calamity and unnatural causes. Natural calamity includes flood, earthquake, landslide, cyclone, avalanche etc. Unnatural cause includes air crash, fire, collapse of structure, explosion, traffic accident, stampede, factory/machine accidents, drowning etc. An accidental death due to natural calamity is much less than those of unnatural causes. The below table illustrates the accidental deaths due to natural and top five unnatural causes from 2011 to 2015.

Table 2: Accidental deaths due to Natural and Unnatural causes
S.No	Cause of death	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
1.	Natural Calamity	23690	22960	22759	20201	10510
2.	Unnatural Causes
	i)                    Drowning	29708	27558	30041	29903	29822
	ii)                  Sudden Deaths	26649	28961	31278	26526	35023
	iii)                Poisoning	29478	30748	29249	20587	26173
	iv)                Traffic Accident	165072	168301	166506	169107	177423
	v)                  Fire	24576	23281	22177	19513	17700
Source: National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India

 

As it can be inferred from the above table, deaths due to unnatural cause is higher than the natural calamity. The five unnatural cause depicted in the above table are drowning, sudden deaths, poisoning, traffic accident and fire. Of the five major causes, traffic accident accounts for the highest number of deaths which is more than one and half lakh. This makes one thing clear that road traffic accidents is a serious issue prevailing in India. It can be seen that road traffic accident have increased in these five years. It resulted in 177423 deaths in the year 2015. What can be the main reason behind such traffic deaths? Some of the reasons can be:

• Not obeying the traffic rules.
• Driving the vehicle above the specified speed limit.
• Crossing the road without looking at the signal.
• Driving vehicle in hurry, tension, depression.
• Drinking while driving (drink and drive) etc.

The other causes of accidental deaths like fire, poisoning, drowning, etc also accounts for major proportion. Natural calamity is beyond our control but what about the deaths due to unnatural causes and suicides? If you combine the accidental deaths and suicidal deaths, it is more than 4.5 lakh per year. This figure is very high and startling. Isn’t it a big jolt for all of us ???

Generally, people ignore the accidental death. Many people drive ruthlessly on road to pretend themselves to be the hero of an action movie but they don’t think for a while that such driving may harm others on road and themselves as well. Speedy driving has become a fashion in India which is not feasible at all. What is your opinion on such accidental deaths and suicides in India ? What is the major cause behind such deaths and what should be done in order to curb such miss-happenings? Do share your views…

– Ashish Kumar

Suicide – Right or wrong?

Suicide, the word seems to be little awkward and is generally considered to be a crime. There can be many reasons to commit suicide. This article highlights one of the major problems i.e suicide which is rarely discussed.

India reported 1,33,623 suicidal deaths in the year 2015 as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. This figure is strange as more than a lakh people committed suicide. Out of the total suicide, female suicide accounted to 42088 and male suicide were 91528 and rest 7 were transgender. Let us look at some statistics of suicides in India as illustrated in the following table which highlights the top 10 suicidal states.

Table 1: Suicidal deaths in top 10 states in the year 2015
State	Suicidal Deaths
Maharashtra	16970
Tamil Nadu	15777
West Bengal	14602
Karnataka	10786
Madhya Pradesh	10293
Telangana	10140
Kerela	7692
Gujarat	7246
Chattisgarh	7118
Andhra Pradesh	6226
Source: National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

As it can be interpreted from the above table, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are leading in suicidal deaths. The above table also states that the problem of suicide is present throughout India from north to south, west to east which is an alarming situation. Let us look at the top 10 major cities in India having a wide number of suicidal deaths which is illustrated in the following table.

Table 2: 10 major cities with suicidal deaths in the year 2015
City	Suicidal deaths
Chennai	2274
Bengaluru	1855
Delhi	1553
Mumbai	1122
Pune	873
Ahmedabad	869
Hyderabad	728
Surat	663
Indore	528
Nagpur	483
Source: National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

From the above table, Chennai is the leading city with highest number of suicidal deaths and can be said as the suicidal capital of India. The five major cities of India namely Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad are in the list of top 10 cities having suicidal deaths.

There can be many reasons for suicide. Some of the reasons can be work pressure, extra marital affairs, love failure, household atrocities, depression, stress, no hope for survival, examination pressure of failure, hunger, lack of basic amenities to live, poverty etc. However, the exact reason behind people committing suicide is difficult to find. Some people say that it is the state of mind which allows people to take such step. Yes, it is the mind who decides what to do and what not to do and it is ultimately the decision of people who go to end their life. This is startling but is the harsh reality.

Life is precious and should be lived and enjoyed while facing the bad moments. Nothing lasts forever, whether it is good or bad. Approach should be to fight and not to quit and end up one’s life. One needs to be strong enough to tackle the situation. It’s amazing to know that there are cases where people come to end up their life if failed in some activities which they have desired most. But is committing suicide is right? Life doesn’t end if you fail.

Please share your views on suicide. Those who commit suicide, is it right or wrong? What according to you is the reason behind committing suicide and what steps can be taken in order to curb suicidal deaths? Please share your thoughts.

– Ashish Kumar