The insurance industry seems to be going through a lull. Things are quiet, with few major news events, no major catastrophes rocking the industry and a general sense of calm. How much of this is merely the swimming duck effect, with the appearance of calm on the surface, but energetic kicking happening under the water remains to be seen - but there is certainly a lot going on behind closed doors. In…

China announced last week that they plan to increase healthcare spending to more than USD 1 trillion by 2020. This is a lot of money, but a closer look at the current state of public health in China and the obstacles to further improvement, will help shed some light on this announcement. We recently posted an article covering the state of China's health services, the "successfully completed"…

During his inaugural speech of the 6th FICCI HEAL (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry - Health Enterprise and Learning) 2012 annual international conference in Delhi this week, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee noted that there is a "high variance" in the quality of service available in public and private sector hospitals, and that the country's healthcare system should be…

The rise of the middle class in East Asia is proving to be a boon for private healthcare providers. Kuala Lumpur based IHH illustrates this nicely. In their recent IPO, which was 132 times oversubscribed, IHH raised more than USD 2 billion and the shares climbed by more than 10% in the first few days of trading. The value of the company stands at around USD 8 billion. IHH is now the second largest…

There is to be a vigorous shake up of the Slovak private health insurance industry. So vigorous in fact, that it's actually going to disappear altogether. The Slovak government has reached a decision this week that it wants to bring all health insurance under a single state run system. A move the government feels will save the Slovak state some money by stopping the flow of precious state funds…

Published July 25, 2012

A report released on Monday by the Healthcare Reform Office in China announced that the 3 year plan to improve some of the fundamental parts of China’s healthcare system completed its objectives on schedule. The Chinese Central Government spent almost US$71 billion between 2009 and 2011 in efforts to improve healthcare services to the public, build primary care…

Fortis Healthcare has received board approval for their plans to list their Religare Health Trust on the Singapore stock exchange. Meanwhile, the bidding process for the Asian insurance business of ING Groep has moved into the second stage, with a number of contenders making the short list. As a business trust, the Religare Health Trust will contain assets from Fortis' radiological testing and…

The Allianz Group has a rich history dating back to 1890 and prides itself on being able to offer solutions in insurance, banking and asset management areas. Insurance wise, Allianz thrives in Europe and has especially excelled itself in the German market. 2012 has started off in a positive direction for the company and CEO Michael Diekmann sees this trend continuing for the rest of the year. On May…

In the midst of enacting QIPP (Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention) policies, Britain's National Health Service is en route to save £5.9 billion (US$ 9.23 billion) for the 2011-2012 financial year at the same time as some are protesting the effects that the cost-cutting measures will have on vulnerable members of society, and their levels of healthcare. Britain's government has been…

In a move sure to reignite debate over upcoming US health system changes, The American Medical Association (AMA) on Monday publically reaffirmed its support for the individual mandate, the most contentious provision of the Obama Administration's Healthcare Reform Law. Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) nearly…