Demand for health, life insurance products grows due to pandemic
MORE FILIPINOS are now interested in availing insurance products for health and life protection versus investment-linked offerings amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, officials from The Philippine American Life and General Insurance Co. (AIA Philam Life) said.
“What we’ve seen is that there was really heightened awareness for protection products: medical, critical illness, even life insurance products that provide something for the family in case someone passes away,” AIA Philam Life Chief Marketing Officer Leonardo T. Tan, Jr. said at an online briefing on Wednesday.
He noted that while they still continue to offer products targeting long-term savings which still sell “quite well,” there have been “product shifts” amid the health crisis.
He said the insurer has paid around P375 million in claims since March last year or when the first lockdown occurred until July 2021. These claims were both hospitalization and death claims attended to by AIA Philam Life, their joint venture bancassurance firm BPI-Philam Life Assurance Corp., as well as their partnership with Citigroup, Inc.
Among the pandemic-related offerings the insurer launched this year is an accommodation feature for their medical plans, which includes coverage for the side effects caused by vaccination versus COVID-19.
“This is also our way of helping the government in achieving herd immunity,” Mr. Tan said.
Another product is the AIA Health Cover, which includes coverage for COVID-19.
AIA Philam Life Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Ang said the company’s learnings from the global financial crisis have helped them through the impact of the pandemic.
“AIA Philam Life has maintained a very strong financial standing because most of our customers buy insurance policies with a commitment for a whole life, they pay for 10 years, 20 years…. It is important to ensure that their insurance company will still be around,” he said.
AIA Philam Life recorded the largest assets among life insurers last year with P291 billion, based on data from the Insurance Commission.
Meanwhile, it ranked second in terms of net income that year with P4.52 billion, and fourth in terms of net premiums, logging P16.77 billion. — L.W.T. Noble
