Investigating the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Perceived Attitudes Toward Health Insurance in the Minds of Youth: A Case Study for India

Introduction

Insurance is an agreement or contract between two parties, by which a insurance company or the state undertakes to provide a guarantee of compensation for specific loss, damage, illness or death in return for payment of a specified premium. It provides protection against a possible risk or loss. An entity which provides insurance is known as an Insurer or Insurance Company. A person or entity who buys insurance is known as a Policy holder. An Insured is an individual or organization who is covered by the policy. The Oriental Life Insurance Company was founded in Calcutta in 1818, marking the beginning of the life insurance industry in India. However, in 1834 this company went bankrupt. The Madras Equitable started doing life insurance business in the Madras Presidency in 1829. The British Insurance Act was passed in 1870, and the Bombay Mutual (1871), Oriental (1874), and Empire of India (1897) insurance companies were founded in the Bombay Residency over the last three decades of the nineteenth century. However, foreign insurance offices that fared well in India, such as Albert Life Assurance, Royal Insurance, Liverpool and London Globe Insurance, dominated this era, and the Indian offices faced stiff competition from the foreign firms.

The Government of India began publishing the returns of Indian insurance companies in 1914. The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act of 1912 was the first piece of legislation to regulate the Life Insurance Industry in India. Principal Agencies were removed by the Insurance Amendment Act of 1950. On January 19, 1956, an Ordinance was passed to nationalise the Life Insurance Industry, and the Life Insurance Corporation was established the following year. Until the late 1990s, when the insurance industry was reopened to the private sector, the LIC enjoyed a monopoly. General Insurance has a history that goes back to the western Industrial Revolution and the subsequent expansion of sea-faring trade and commerce in the 17th century. General Insurance in India dates back to the British creation of Triton Insurance Company Ltd in Calcutta around 1850. The Indian Mercantile Insurance Ltd was founded in 1907. This was the first company to do business in all types of general insurance. The General Insurance Council, a section of the Insurance Association of India, was founded in 1957. The General Insurance Council drafted a code of ethics to ensure ethical behaviour and sound business practises. The Insurance Act was updated in 1968 in order to control investments and establish minimum solvency margins. At the time, the Tariff Advisory Committee was also established. General insurance was nationalised on January 1, 1973 after the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Act was passed in 1972. The National Insurance Company Ltd., the New India Assurance Company Ltd., the Oriental Insurance Company Ltd and the United India Insurance Company Ltd were formed from the amalgamation of 107 insurers. The General Insurance Corporation of India was established in 1971 and began operations on January 1st, 1973. This millennium has seen Insurance come full circle after a roughly 200-year journey. The process of reopening the sector began in the early 1990s, and it has been extensively opened up in the last decade and more. In 1993, the government formed a committee under the head of RN Malhotra, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, to make suggestions for insurance reforms. The goal was to add to the reforms that had already been implemented in the financial industry. The group issued its findings in 1994, recommending that the private sector be allowed to enter the insurance industry, among other things. Foreign firms should be allowed to enter by floating Indian companies, preferably in a joint venture with Indian companies, they stated. In 1999, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) was established as an autonomous agency to regulate and promote the insurance market, based on the recommendations of the Malhotra Committee report. In April of 2000, the IRDA was established as a legislative organisation. The IRDA's main goals are to promote competition in the insurance market in order to improve customer satisfaction by increasing consumer choice and lowering prices while also ensuring the insurance market's financial stability.