WORK OUT THE FIGURE 
Shell out more for health cover 

You think finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has put more money in your hands Actually he is taking it away. How The premium of your health insurance might just increase by up to 10% as Mukherjee has brought the cashless insurance transactions within the service tax ambit. Insurance companies are now in a bind as they are already facing pressure on margins for health insurance.
Now, nursing homes and multi-specialty clinics where services offered in terms of corporate health check-up schemes that are paid for directly by insurance companies would now be levied 10% service tax.
If your cashless transaction at a hospital is Rs 80,000,the insurance company will now have to shell out around Rs 88,000.
Insurance firms may end up absorbing some portion [of the increase]. But they would pass on the rest to customers, says Rahul Aggarwal, CEO, Optima Insurance Brokers. As a result, insurance premiums are expected to go up by 2-10 %.
In case of renewals, the customers who have made a claim during the previous year would definitely end up paying more. Even on the non-claims side, some portion of renewals would tend to be on the higher side depending on the age bracket, says Tarun Kumar Singh of Prabhudas Lilladher. This means that senior citizens are likely to shell out more in renewal premiums.

Times of India, New Delhi, 28-02-2010