Tanzanians insure property, not their health’study
*New investors set out to change all that!
MNAKU MBANI
A RECENT study has found that only four per cent of the 126-million strong
population of the five member countries of the East African Community –
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania – can be said to have some sort
of medical insurance cover for themselves and/or members of their families.
The chief executive officer of the Resolution Health East Africa Ltd
(RHEAL), Peter Nduati, told Business Times that, basically, this is
contributed to by popular apathy. Most people continue to nurture a mindset
to the general effect that personal health matters take the backseat, while
property – vehicles, buildings, etc – take priority in the insurance stakes!
Nduati was speaking during the launching of the company’s health insurance
products in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday.
For his part, a RHEAL director, Leonard Chacha, said “culture is the major
problem that hinders many of the local populace from valuing and purchasing
health insurance.”
He adds that “it is astonishing to see people preferring to buy insurance
for their cars and houses while they won’t insure themselves and their
families on medical matters!”
In the event, he called upon the peoples of the East African region “to wake
up and buy health insurance which is very important to them when they are
healthy and working… And even when they retire!”
RHEAL is a Kenya-based company with a presence in Dar es Salaam.
According to the Resolution Health country manager for Tanzania, Dennis
Lumula, health insurance in Tanzania is lower in terms of coverage than it
is in, say, neighbouring Kenya and Uganda. This is basically because the
existing service providers target certain markets as a matter of course –
especially body corporates, as well as middle and top income earners.
As a result, the majority of Tanzanians – especially low income earners and
those living in rural areas – fail to access the opportunities which are
already available locally to insure themselves and their families for better
health services.
In that regard, the company’s group chief executive, Peter Nduati, told
Business Times that Resolution Health Ltd would make sure that a healthy
lifestyle is promoted in Tanzania, and elsewhere in the EA region, with much
confidentiality for its clients.
” will not rest until we become the market leaders in East Africa,” the man
stressed.
Resolution Health East Africa Limited was registered in Kenya in August
2002, and has complied with all the requirements that relate to Medical
Insurance Providers.
It was registered in Tanzania under the Tanzania Insurance Regulatory
Authority (TIRA), and clearance to do business in Tanzania beginning in 2010
has already been granted by the Commissioner for Insurance at the Treasury.
The company has also been registered for operations in Uganda.
T here are plans to cover the whole EA region and Eastern DRC.
Nduati says Resolution Health “has contracted over 250 medical service
providers within the EAC region to ensure that our members have access to
medical attention within their respective locations.
In any case, people living outside Tanzania and Kenya – as well as clients
who experience health problems when outside their countries – can still
access the company’s services through its accredited agents spread across
the region.
“The company has unique types of products for both individual and corporate
clients – all with lower costs compared with the traditional service
providers,” Nduati revealed.
Unlike other existing players who sometimes exclude certain health problems
in their services, Resolution Health Limited will also cover HIV/Aids – but
with special costing, he said.
Through the arrangement, HIV-positive clients would benefit under
supplemental cover such as nutritions, preventing pregnant mother-to-child
infections, ARVs and the treatment of opportunistic infections.
He said future plans include making Resolution Health a fully fledged
insurance company.
Nduati said RHEAL would cater for both individual clients and corporate
groups… “In both categories, we give members options of getting
in-patient, out-patient, maternity, dental and optical services.
“Corporate products are designed for groups and companies with a minimum of
ten principal members. The annual limits range from a minimum of US$1,490,
up to a maximum of US$29,800. The product can be taken on a ‘per-person’
basis, on an annual limit – or have the annual limit shared within the
family members for both inpatient and outpatient services.
“Our products meet with your requirements by providing unique cover options
either for you as an individual, or for your organization.
“Whether you are joining as an individual or as a corporate, Resolution
Health shall waive waiting periods for members transferring from another
medical provider. The covers given are currently available in Tanzania,
Uganda and Kenya – at no additional cost.”
RHEAL also offers discounted spousal rates and additional insurance-based
benefits: personal accident, critical illness and daily cash as part of the
benefits – also at no extra cost.
Commenting on medical inflation, the official said this currently stands at
around seven per cent. This is still relatively low compared with Kenya and
Uganda where the medical inflation rate is up to 30 per cent!
Usually, medical inflation in Tanzania – and, indeed, elsewhere – is caused
by investments in medical diagnostic technologies.
However, the issue of regulation in Tanzania has remained a challenge to new
entrants in the market. In fact, weaknesses in the extant regulations force
some of the new players in the health/medical insurance to unnecessarily
incur extra operational costs.
Lumula says the regulations allow a new player to register as an insurance
broker or company, noting that this adds costs on the direct charges,
requirements and fees imposed in the sector.
All this notwithstanding, however, Resolution Health East Africa Limited
announces its increased presence in Tanzania. This is in an effort to boost
the medical insurance sub-sector – and, hopefully, get more Tanzanians to
insure their health, as well as their cars and houses!
* Business Times- Tanzania