Health & Protection’s Middle East international private medical insurance roundtable
It’s essential for health insurance intermediaries to have minimum qualifications so customers can get more out of their healthcare, argued advisors at Health & Protection’s Middle East international private medical insurance (IPMI) roundtable. The panel unanimously agreed that the standards of several intermediaries in the emirate have to be raised. Nageen Sattar, Pacific Prime’s Director of Regional Client Services, was part of the panel and got to hear the concerns and hopes of regulators firsthand.
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This Pacific Prime Dubai article offers a brief overview of some valuable insights discussed at Health & Protection’s Middle East IPMI roundtable.
Improving the industry together
Panel guests and attendees joined the IPMI conference in downtown Dubai’s Sky View Hotel, where they expressed their wishes for regulators to honor their commitments, as well as their passion for improving the industry on a united front. Boasting a population of 3.5 million people, Dubai currently has around 200 active broker firms and approximately 4,000 advisors. Even though a mandatory minimum requirement for health insurance was put in place six years ago, a significant portion of employer-provided cover has caused a divide.
“Poor and uneducated practices” have made their way into the market as regulators have taken a less hands-on approach in certain areas or delayed action. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased health awareness that came with it have put the spotlight on said practices and prompted the demand for improvement.
Legal responsibilities
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused customers to carefully evaluate their healthcare, leading to surprising results for some, said Gaenor Jones, Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) Regional Director MEA, Central and South Asia. For example, some have made claims only to realize that their policy doesn’t cover certain events. When asking their advisor why they weren’t aware of this, some replied that they should understand their policy – despite it being their job to ensure their client is cared for and offered the best advice.
Additionally, Jones noted that there’ll likely be more demand for recognized qualifications as new businesses enter the region post-pandemic. She mentioned that professional qualifications are expected of those working in international or multinational companies, and questioned why the same thing is not yet happening in the emirate.
A broad range of buyers
There are several reasons behind the answer to Jones’ question, including the buyer market’s divided nature. With everything from sophisticated buyers from mature markets to those looking to fulfill legal requirements, buyers either know exactly what they’re looking for or are interested in securing mandatory cover for cheap. Generally speaking, the sophisticated buyers kept their quality IPMI plans while others jumped from plan to plan in an attempt to cut costs.
Since some employers only want to meet the mandatory requirement and compulsory plans offer limited coverage, some employees are essentially left with no coverage at all. In some cases, as pointed out by Amber Musson-Thorp, Lifecare International Group Commercial Director MEA, some employees don’t even get medical cards.
Better minimum benefits
Diana Haydar, Nasco’s Regional Customer Development Director, expressed hardship when working with certain clients and said that advisors are not the only ones to blame for inadequate outcomes. She pointed out that, even though advisors don’t always provide optimal service, there are also insurance providers who sell inadequate benefits and medical providers who offer inadequate services since they are not properly monitored or regulated.
Regulators must realize that premiums often drive employers’ decisions, and even the lowest level of insurance should still provide better minimum benefits. She welcomed the Dubai Health Authority’s plan to upgrade basic health insurance plan offerings in July 2021 – something that the entire panel is looking forward to seeing come to fruition.
It’s a common hope that local regulators will be more proactive in the situation and require better qualifications for advisors. Damien Walsh, AES International’s Director of Health and Protection, mentioned that proper regulation can help prevent the market from going down a negative spiral by only worrying about the bottom line.
Minimum requirements are a must
Nausheen Popat, Lifecare International’s Chief Commercial Officer, said that a certain qualification should be required in order to give advice and that it currently isn’t controlled. Qualifications will not be deemed important unless the regulator sets a minimum requirement. Without it, the cycle of clients receiving poor advice and eventually turning to those who are more qualified will only continue.
Others agreed and said that regulators should have mandatory qualifications for advisors in the same way that there is mandatory health insurance to ensure buyers receive a certain level of service. Nageen Sattar, Pacific Prime’s Director of Regional Client Services, said,
“We did reach a point where the DHA started to evolve and become that governing body that we were actually looking for, but it was a stop and start situation. We had forums, we had platforms where we were able to voice our concerns and opinions, but that has all sort of just become non-existent, it’s just disappeared.”
On top of that, the panel agreed that advice firms should also be following best practice approaches, including:
- Hiring employees with qualifications
- Allowing employees to pursue qualifications
- Increasing the region’s talent pool
Nageen brought up important considerations for intermediaries to ponder, and that is: do they really practice what you preach? How do they support your employees? She said that offering opportunities, qualifications, engagement, and improving the talent pool are all things that must “come from within”. What’s more, Nageen noted the need to be more agile and allow time to embed these changes into their benefits packages.
These are some of the many insightful voices and ideas shared at The Health & Protection’s Middle East IPMI roundtable. To read more about the event and ideas that were raised, download the entire roundtable supplement here.
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Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.
Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.
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