Thukten Zangpo

To help people overcome financial difficulties to conduct funeral rites of a relative, the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICB) launched the National Life Insurance Scheme on September 20.

This insurance will provide a family member with risk coverage of Nu 100,000 for payment of Nu 700 per member per year for every Bhutanese aged above five years. This comes to about Nu 58.33 per person a month.

Chief Executive Officer of RICB, Karma said that close to 686,025 Bhutanese or 89 percent of the total population would be benefited from the scheme.

“The scheme will help the families during an unfortunate demise in the family by meeting the unexpected financial needs as losing a family member not only drains emotionally but also financially,” he said.

To support one person’s scheme, it needs 143 policies, Karma said, adding that insurance is risk-sharing which relies on law of large numbers. “The premium of Nu 700 annually is just breakeven for the company.”

Although the scheme is not mandatory, where a sum insured of Nu 30,000 for the death of a family member has already been provided through the government’s Rural Life Insurance, an additional sum insured of Nu 100,000 will raise the benefits to meet the rising cost of funeral rites.

The RICB also launched an integrated money-back policy (IMBP), a life insurance scheme, that provides money back as a proportion of the sum insured at the defined intervals during the policy term along with the guaranteed additions payable at the maturity. The scheme will benefit every Bhutanese aged 18 and above to invest, save, and diversify their hard earned income.

According to the RICB’s press release, the IMBP provides an insurance cover equal to the full sum assured and accrued guaranteed additions in case of death of the insured person during the term of the policy.