Arpico Insurance has launched Arpico Healthcare in order to undercut the competition and rapidly rise in market share in the highly underpenetrated Sri Lankan healthcare insurance segment. Over the next five years, the firm plans to take its share of industry-wide Gross Written Premiums from currently below 2% to 10%.
Arpico Healthcare offers coverage for over 40 illnesses and 20 types of critical illnesses. The aggressive sales strategy was launched on 16 November at the Grand Monarch Kotte.
 CEO Kelum Senanayake |
Chairman Richard Pieris Dr Sena Yaddehige lamented that though the rest of the Richard Pieris group was dominating their industries the insurance segment was still widely unknown. Dr Yaddehige had previously sold off an insurance venture he owned and had decided to re-launch one under the Richard Pieris group of companies under the Arpico brand name.
Dr Yaddehige noted that the broader Richard Pieris group remained highly profitable with well-diversified revenue streams. He noted that in 2003 the company had a Profit Before Tax of Rs 180 million which had risen to Rs. 6.5 billion in 2019.
Dr Yaddehige said, “We have an exceptional set of people capable of doing unbelievable things. I told them to double the revenue and they have been able to do so. I told them if they are as good as the rest of the group they need to have significant revenue growth and they have taken the gauntlet, 10% of the industry in the next 5 years.”
Arpico Insurance CEO Kelum Senanayake noted that the product offering is very complex. Due to the range of benefits offered it took longer than usual for the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka to approve the product. Senanayake said, “We have to have the right weapons and as a result, we are launching this health insurance product.”
The health cover includes worldwide coverage (sans the US and Canada), dental care benefit, alternative medicine coverage, maternity benefit, reinstatement benefit, compensation for hospitalization in a govt non-paying ward, pharmacy benefit, ambulance charges, cost of prosthesis and implants, pre and post hospitalization charges, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, dialysis cover, organ donor, daycare surgery charges, self-pay discounts, telemedicine facility, second medical opinions, no claim bonus, wellness benefit, women healthcare cover, emergency cash withdrawal, loyalty reward amongst others.
The sum assured may not cover the entire cost incurred by the patient as the charges against certain expenses are capped at a total of the sum assured.
According to statistics of the group over 4.7 million, Sri Lankans visit a hospital annually. He noted that non-communicable diseases were on the rise with modern lifestyles and that healthcare coverage was a modern necessity. 87% of expenses from the private healthcare sector are borne out of pocket, with 7% borne by the employer, only 5% by insurance, and less than 1% by non-profits.
0 comments: