NAIROBI, Kenya, April 27 – Swiss Capacity Building Facility (SCBF) and APA Insurance have partnered with a consortium of local insurance innovators to provide affordable primary healthcare insurance solutions to under-served Kenyans.
The innovators include Paa Insurance Agency; an inclusive insurance distribution specialist, Emerging Markets; a research and design consultancy firm, Ilara Health; a network of primary healthcare facilities and Democrance; a SaaS plug-and-play insurance technology provider.
The partners have developed an innovative solution designed with a hybrid model of capitation costs, and in-patient benefit for patients who become hospitalised.
“We are proud to launch this innovative initiative which will see thousands of under-served households in rural and peri-urban Kenya have access to sustainable primary health care financing solutions to protect their families against out-of-pocket expenses that could otherwise force them into poverty,” said Dana Ellis, Senior Operations Manager at SCBF.
The technical assistance funding from SCBF will contribute to strengthening financial inclusion and increasing resilience against primary healthcare costs for under-served communities in Kenya, intending to reach at least 50 per cent of women.
This is aligned to the Government of Kenya’s 2030 financial inclusion strategy to ensure that no person in Kenya is left out of reach of financial services, to increase their resilience against risks beyond their control, while also improving their access to essential healthcare services.
Speaking at the launch of the project , APA Group CEO Ashok Shah noted that, “it is important for insurers to think beyond offering insurance to the affluent customer segment.”
He emphasised that the future of insurance lies in tapping into the majority of the population which remains uninsured.
APA has been at the forefront of supporting inclusive insurance solutions targeting the middle and lower base of the economic pyramid, and shall continue to do so with this initiative, to create social and sustainable impact within the communities.
The demand for new innovative insurance solutions, over the last few years, has seen an emergence of insurtechs (insurance innovators who use technology to create and improve insurance solutions) and simplified customer experiences facilitating the purchase, service and making of claims without the barriers associated with mainstream insurance.
This proliferation has particularly been fueled by the regulator-backed programme, BimaLab, in partnership with Financial Sector Deepening Africa (FSD Africa).
BimaLab is an accelerator program that supports early insurtech innovators to develop innovative insurance solutions.
Elias Omondi, Senior Manager Risk Regulation at FSD Africa, who inspired the birth of BimaLab remarked, “We’re thrilled to see startups that have gone through BimaLab launch innovative products that will redefine how insurance is offered and accessed in the Kenyan market, and even beyond our borders. We will work closely with the innovators, the insurer and the regulator to see that the project achieves its intended impact.”
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