ASEAN: Healthcare forms biggest non-life protection gap
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Jan 2019
Healthcare poses the largest non-life protection gap in ASEAN, followed by natural disasters and residential property, according to findings published in the 2018 ASEAN Insurance Pulse, a survey released by the Zurich-based research firm Dr Schanz, Alms & Company and Malaysian Reinsurance.
The extent of awareness about the benefits of insurance, and also consumers’ mind set and the affordability of cover are among the main hurdles to closing the gap.
The findings of the report are based on structured interviews with executives representing 41 regional and international (re)insurance companies, intermediaries, policy makers and trade associations. The interviews were conducted from June to September 2018.
Eighty per cent of executive interviewees consider non-life protection gaps a serious threat to their respective countries’ economic growth and societal progress. Large uninsured disaster losses in particular can adversely affect the fiscal position of a number of countries and their ability to recover swiftly following a disastrous event.
Malaysian Re CEO president and CEO Zainudin Ishak said, “To close the gap between economic and insured losses, recommendations range from enhanced public-private partnerships, the introduction of subsidised schemes, the provision of tax incentives and compulsory insurance requirements to awareness and education campaigns.”
New (digital) technologies which enable innovative ways of buying and using insurance products are viewed as the most promising approach to narrowing non-life protection gaps. A