Plum, country's employee health insurance platform, has unveiled its whitepaper, ‘What Goes into Building a Company That Cares’ that reveals the gaps in healthcare and insurance access faced by underrepresented groups in the workplace. It further urged corporations to recognise the significance of employee health insurance, not only as a comprehensive benefit but also a genuinely inclusive one at that.

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"While the conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) has gained considerable traction over the recent years, the needle is yet to move to ensure access to quality healthcare and insurance coverage for underrepresented groups: including members of the LGBTQAI+ community, people with disabilities and women," Plum said.

The whitepaper on inclusion through insurance addresses these disparities and also proposes corrective measures to make benefits at workplaces truly inclusive.

These underrepresented communities make up approximately 50 percent of India's population and yet, here are some statistics on how they are insured:

60 percent of Plum's customers have opted for new-age insurance coverage, demonstrating a growing demand for comprehensive healthcare.

However, while progressive and comprehensive, less than 1 percent of these covers are inclusive. For example, there is much to be done to cover people with disabilities (example: Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy or Autism) or even add LGBTQAI+ specific treatments (like gender reassignment surgery and mental health support) to these comprehensive policies.

Additionally, less than 25 percent of Plum's customers have comprehensive insurance that caters to women's unique healthcare and lifestyle needs, resulting in higher out-of-pocket expenses for an overlooked segment of the population.

(Source: Plum)

Abhishek Poddar, Co-founder and CEO of Plum, said, "By acknowledging and addressing the disparities faced by diverse employees, particularly those belonging to underrepresented groups, we have the potential to instigate change in the way companies prioritize the well-being of their workforce."

First Published:Jun 6, 2023 11:37 AM IST