More and more Filipinos, made financially and emotionally vulnerable by the pandemic, are buying insurance policies, with coverage for life, accident, and health as their top three priorities.
The ongoing presence of COVID-19 has made them aware that they are unprepared for the financial consequences of contracting the virus, such as hospitalization and related medical expenses, unemployment and the incapacity to work, or in worst case scenarios, death.
According to a 2021 Nielsen Consumer Study, the number one insurance product that the respondents purchased was life insurance (63 percent). Tied for second place at 38 percent are accident and health insurance policies, and coverage for hospitalization and related medical expenses. The study also reveals that these purchases were motivated by overwhelming feelings of insecurity and uncertainty caused by the lingering pandemic.
“The Philippines as a market has always been highly underinsured, especially when it comes to medical insurance. Almost 50 percent of the medical expense in the Philippines is out-of-pocket (OOP), which means that Filipinos have no insurance to cater to that kind of a medical expense. COVID has only further brought this particular concern top of mind for our customers, and that’s what we realized in the last two years,” AXA Philippines CEO Rahul Hora elaborates.
Research does confirm that hospitalization and related expenses can become heavy financial burdens that the average Filipino finds hard to carry, even for those admitted in hospital charity wards.
The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reports that, from January 2021 to June 2021, the virus was the fifth leading cause of death in the country.
In a study conducted at the Philippine General Hospital, published in April 2021, and which classified 76.99 percent of the subjects under charity services, the highest OOP expenses for COVID-19 patients over a 14-day stay were for the 19-30 age group, amounting to P44,428.63.
Patients less than 60 years old paid an amount ranging from P25,899 to P44,428.63, while hospitalized senior citizens older than 60 years old forked out for medical expenses ranging from P4,005.60 to P32,920.20.
The cost of a two-week stay in private hospitals, which includes confinement, can be safely assumed to be far greater.
“As an industry in general, we are going the extra mile to serve more Filipinos,” says Hora.
“Many Filipinos are beginning to understand that insurance can shield them from the devastating financial and emotional consequences of hospitalization, a breadwinner’s untimely demise, or a car crash on the road. We will be here with them during this crisis and other adversities that might come.”
To make insurance more accessible and understandable, AXA offers “more favorably priced protection for more Filipinos, especially the large number of those who see the importance of insurance, but who still find most insurance products too expensive,” says Hora.
For example, AXA has designed insurance coverages for certain specific situations that the underinsured or uninsured Filipino might not even realize they need.
“Because the elderly are more likely to die of any disease, some of our health insurance solutions cover policyholders up to the age of 75, with one even extending coverage up to 100 for critical illnesses, although most health plans cap at age 65.”
AXA’s personal accident insurance also provides monetary compensation for policyholders who lose their lives or suffer permanent bodily disablement because of an accident for a very affordable price. “Nobody wants to think about an accident happening to them but they can occur, inside or outside your home,” explains Hora.
Another form of protection that AXA offers is the home and condo insurance. The value of ensuring the safety of property also rose during the time of COVID-19 as the lockdowns caused a majority of the workforce to work remotely. Storms and calamities, which are all too frequent in the Philippines, also reinforced to the homeowners the need to protect their investment.
