Q: How has AIA tried to stand out as the ‘health insurer of choice’ in such a crowded marketplace?
As part of our brand promise of enabling healthier, longer, better lives for all, we are committed to going above and beyond, taking the most comprehensive approach in managing health in the life insurance sector. We do so in two ways:
- Strengthening our comprehensive health and wellness proposition to promote healthy lifestyles, early detection and intervention through health screening and provide quality medical care across the entire healthcare journey from end to end.
AIA was the first insurer in Singapore to establish direct relationships with healthcare providers to give our customers the best possible quality and sustainable care.
With our exclusive partnership with WhiteCoat (an on-demand tele-medicine provider), our customers could seek consultations with doctors remotely and have their medication delivered to their homes. During COVID-19, telemedicine had proven to be a safer and effective alternative for patients to receive care.
We also forged a partnership with Teladoc Health for customers facing serious medical conditions (a multinational healthcare company) to offer our customers a comprehensive suite of case management services, which encompasses (1) Medical Second Opinion and (2) Medical Case Management.
- Promoting health and wellness holistically, where mental wellness is equally important. AIA was the first to provide mental health coverage with AIA Beyond Critical Care plan in Singapore. Since then, we have implemented a series of mental wellness support for our customers and our people:
- Rolled out a new complimentary “Resilience Mindset” programme for all staff and all corporate customers (1.2 million members of the workforce) to improve their mental wellbeing.
- Introduced a work-from-home assistance scheme to help staff cushion any financial impact that their family could be facing during the pandemic.
- Invested in new stress and wellness management training for more than 350 people managers in AIA Singapore.
- Launched mHaven – a modern self-care resource in partnership with our Regional strategic partner, Holmusk – and new mental wellbeing insurance for our employees.
Q: Can you talk a little about how AIA has leveraged technology to boost health insurance penetration (wearables, product sales, claims etc)?
AIA Singapore’s technology enablement priority is ensuring our digital ambitions are rooted in our brand promise of enabling healthier, longer, better lives. Our digitalisation mandate is focused on helping Singaporeans embrace new norms and emerge stronger.
We rallied our entire employee base to embrace a culture of experimentation and innovation so we can stay ahead of the game. We collaborated with Hyper Island to co-design an agile collaboration programme titled – Digital Ei8ht – that moves beyond typical isolated training sessions/ workshops to online live-learning sessions for employees to undertake transformation through experimental habit-forming. This training was instrumental in powering new agile ways of working that broke down barriers and encouraged greater cross-functional collaboration.
The hard work of setting up our digital ecosystem infrastructure had already been done pre-pandemic. When COVID-19 struck, the focus shifted to enhancing system integration and improving efficiencies. With AIA Claims EZ AI-powered platform, we applied artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to automatically assess and process claims without human intervention. The outcome: We delivered on our promise, especially when customers are facing added financial anxiety stemming from the pandemic, and paid claims directly to customers’ bank account within 1 to 4 working days, as compared to the industry average of 2 weeks.
To deliver healthcare services more efficiently, we partnered with WhiteCoat to enable our customers to seek professional medical advice from the comfort of their own home. Last year, we further expanded the scope of our Whitecoat teleconsultation services to include pediatric care and psychologist offerings. These telehealth services have played an instrumental role in health management during the pandemic, leveraging technology to deliver necessary care safely while minimising virus transmission.
Through internal and external efforts to drive digital transformation, we continued to deliver a resilient performance despite the far-reaching impacts of COVID-19. AIA became a simpler, faster, more connected organisation, allowing our people and distribution channels to elevate their professionalism and deliver greater value to customers.
Q: What do you see as being the dominant themes of health insurance in the next 12-24 months (mental health, pandemic cover etc)?
The pandemic has resulted in a seismic shift for businesses in their daily operations – the insurance sector was not spared and had to adapt quickly. Moving to an endemic COVID-19 reality, some salient and prominent traits will continue to impact our approach in supporting our customers.
- Digitalisation in healthcare
With people getting accustomed to living their life online, it is imperative that we continuously enhance the digital experience for customers. Innovations in artificial intelligence, big data and mobile applications have also opened up new frontiers in digital health to increase accessibility to healthcare and improve treatment outcomes, accelerated partly by the pandemic.
At AIA, digital transformation is an on-going journey, with the aim of delivering best-in-class customer experience while focusing on high-tech, high-trust and high-touch services to provide our customers with the best experiences 24/7 and on the go. Balancing our technological innovations with the human touch to ensure that our customers are thoroughly supported not just with efficiency, but with empathy is crucial too.
- More focus on personalised care
Digitalisation in healthcare has also broken new grounds in personalisation of healthcare. Personalised care is about delivering the right treatment for the individual.
Healthcare and insurance providers are increasingly zooming into personalised care, developing offerings and providing advice tailored to individuals’ lifestyle choices, social and environmental influences.
- Continued emphasis on mental health
Another key theme that will influence developments in health insurance in the coming years would be on the topic of mental health. At the workplace, there will be a continued emphasis on improving one’s mental wellbeing and morale at work, as employers are increasingly realising the importance of investing in employees’ health. Employers can tap into cost-effective ways to improve workforce well-being by working with their employee benefits partner.
These themes have been identified as key focus areas for AIA Singapore even before the pandemic, and we are will continuously innovate in this space as a leading health insurer.
Q: What is the dynamic for AIA between health insurance and life insurance in terms of cross-selling, customer retention and acquisition?
We do not view health insurance and life insurance in isolation. AIA’s brand promise of enabling healthier, longer and better lives is our north star and we take a similarly comprehensive approach in helping our customers plan for their retirement, going beyond financial health to also consider other aspects of health and wellness.
Moving away from a traditional insurance model has been many years in the making. We have since created a robust ecosystem to support Singaporeans’ health holistically. Today, our customers view us as their partner in life, and not just as an insurer. A