Does following a preventive lifestyle plan reduce my future premium if I have diabetes and how?

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Advice by Anuradha Sriram, Chief Actuarial Officer, Aditya Birla Health Insurance

Suppose you’re living with diabetes and wondering whether following a preventive lifestyle plan could lower your future health insurance premiums. In that case, the answer depends on how insurers assess and price medical risk. Traditionally, Indian health insurance companies have followed a fixed underwriting approach, where the premium is determined at the start of the policy based on your disclosed health conditions.

Suppose you have diabetes, hypertension, or another chronic illness. In that case, any loading or co-payment applied at inception usually continues for the lifetime of the policy, regardless of how well you manage your condition later. This is because once the risk is underwrit