Insurers now warm up to health cover for the elderly

Mwanaisha Wesonga aged 78 (Left) and Hadijah Wamukoya aged 76 from Lucheka village in Matungu. The two are widowed co-wives and live in abject poverty but have never received the Inua Jamii cash transfers. [FILE/Standard] Andrew Kimani has been living abroad for a decade now, making a decent living. His biggest worry, however, is the amount he spends monthly on caring for his 70-year-old mother. He says, despite her requiring quality care due to her advanced age, very few insurance companies are willing to fully insure her, claiming that she is a high-risk client. Kimani is surprised that Kenya's private insurers have yet to fully tap into healthcare insurance for senior citizens above the age of 60. But this state of affairs is slowly changing, with a growing number of local insurers starting to issue health cover for the elderly, a major relief to working Kenyans like Kimani. "You'll find that whenever a parent is sick, you get worried. Here in the West, we call it the black tax, where the young take care of the old. Many of us are in a WhatsApp group fundraising for someone's father's or mother's medical bill. Other than the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF), which is government-owned, how many other insurance firms offer comprehensive care to our parents?" pauses Kimani. According to the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA), there are at least 41 approved general insurers and reinsurers in the country. Of these, several private insurers now offer health cover for the elderly. They include AAR, with its seniors care medical insurance; CIC's Seniors Mediplan; Old Mutual's Afyaimara Seniors; Kenya Commercial Bank Insurance's Simba Health Senior; and Jubilee's J Senior. Reinsurers are Continental Reinsurance Ltd, East Africa Reinsurance Company Ltd, Ghana Reinsurance (Kenya) Ltd, Kenya Reinsurance Corporation Ltd and WAICA Reinsurance Ltd. This barely scratches the surface, considering the huge demand for medical cover for the elderly. The general insurance segment dominates the industry, with audit firm Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler (KPMG) indicating that it accounts for 60 per cent of the industry's gross written premiums. "At three, Kenya has the third lowest insurance penetration rate in sub-Saharan Africa, with South Africa leading at 17 per cent. This is due to most of Kenya's population perceiving insurance as a 'nice-to-have or easy to discard' product rather than one that is essential," says KPMG in a recent sector report in part. According to KMPG, insurance firms such as Jubilee, APA, Britam, ICEA and Old Mutual are the major players in the general insurance business. The companies have healthcare insurance as one of their products. On the other hand, there are at least 23 approved life insurance companies, while the medical insurance business has 45 approved firms. They Include Liaison Healthcare Ltd, Minet Kenya Insurance Brokers Ltd, and Waumini Insurance Brokers. However, research by Kenyatta University reveals that these firms lock out the elderly from their coverage due to their perceived high-risk status on account of age. The paper written by Nelly Yiyambe, Andrea Korir indicates that in Nairobi alone, 67 per cent of the elderly who were interviewed had no insurance cover. At the same time, 37 per cent reported that they were under government-managed health insurance. Ensign Insurance Brokers Principal Officer Joseph Kuria says the demand for quality health care for the elderly is high, but the number of insurers willing to take the risk is disturbingly low. Kuria says this is what has informed the firm's latest product, Linda Mzazi. "What you find is that the premium offered is very high, owing to the health risks associated with old age. However, if the cover is offered the traditional way, then we will still have the same challenge. Someone needs to step in and give a different method of insuring our mothers, fathers and grandparents," he states. He says the secret is ensuring there are no gaps between contribution, management, and consumption. "Remember, there is a challenge of how much our hospitals charge. You need to look at the idea of Equity Afya to understand that some of the challenges we face in the insurance industry, offering health as a product, can be solved," says Kuria.

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