English
Nov
23
Globalsurance impressed by Now Health's latest developments across the Middle East and China
Posted on Nov 23, 2012 by Sergio Ulloa (G+)
In what began as a careful partnership, Globalsurance is working even more closely with Now Health, as the young health insurance company has shown promise, especially in regard to its strong organization, service and claims capabilities. Now Health, which was only launched last year, is the creation of a management team comprised of former Good Health employees, including Martin Garcia, who served as Good Health's managing director. When Good Health was bought by Aetna, there was a significant number of employees who left and followed Mr Garcia. The group, under Mr Garcia's direction, aspired to develop a new international health insurance company. This goal was finally realized in April 2011. The new company's intended USP's focused on their customer service abilities and their operation capabilities. The best way to deliver these services was to possess exceptional Information Technology. In order to achieve this goal, the development of an entirely new service platform had to take place to meet and exceed the current needs in the iPMI industry. Now Health's ability to work toward achieving this goal can be largely attributed to the more than 20 years of experience Mr Garcia and his team have in the industry. Globalsurance analysts now confidently believe that Now Health has developed its own competitive advantage in the area of service capabilities. "We naturally take a cautious approach to any new insurers or products in the market in order to protect our clients and typically, we have a wait and see approach. Over the past 12 months, we have gradually built up a client base with Now Health and can honestly say they have exceeded our expectations," said Globalsurance CEO Neil Raymond. The new service platform developed by Now Health is useful at all stages and is able to process and manage documents and information in an efficient manner. Whether it's the initial application, the issuing of a policy, a claim or policy renewal; Now Health offers a platform that is all-inclusive, fast and efficient. As evidence with the company's new, highly developed service capabilities, customer service is also a top priority, and Now Health offers a wide range of resources, from easily accessible and easy-to-use online items to live online support via customer service representatives. Mr Raymond asserted that Now Health may have one of the most advanced systems in the industry, adding that their resources "give the company a definitive competitive advantage in an industry where service is most highly regarded". Another factor to note is that Now Health has gone onshore, thereby addressing certain compliance issues in all the biggest iPMI markets. Recently, the company developed a partnership in China with Ming An so that they could offer RMB policies onshore and the insurer has also become licensed in Dubai making their ability to offer higher level services with their IT platform all the more remarkable. There have been a few hurdles along the way during this new journey for the Now Health team. However, despite a few false starts and a few times where premiums had to be adjusted to match market rates, Now Health seems to be on the right track and is showing their potential as a leader in the international health insurance market. Now Health particularly faced some challenges with their pregnancy/childbirth benefit. The benefit was originally written to cover the insured even if they were pregnant at the time of application and this was an uncommon occurrence in the industry as it allowed for women to be covered for emergency C-sections (provided they were medically necessary). However, this kind of benefit is often prone to anti-selection, and Mr. Raymond expressed his thoughts when the plan was originally launched. "We were worried about this benefit and its impact on the sustainability of the plan benefits and premiums over the long term, it is clear from large claims that come from anti selection that the benefit would impact the overall loss ratio and Now Health have done the right thing to deal with this issue quickly. It is important that the portfolio can be managed over the long term for the benefit of all involved in it." Despite the few hiccups experienced during the initial launch of the Now Health and their plans, analysts at Globalsurance remain confident in Now Health's potential in the market. With the company's strong team, dynamic and comprehensive policies, and continually improving customer service platforms and capabilities, analysts project Now Health will continue to build its portfolio of customers and prove itself as a potential leader in the market.