Digital health solutions provider Carepay has this week announced a new partnership with Jubilee Health Jubilee Health Insurance.
The Kenyan based company which operates M-TIBA platform says the partnership will see them roll out Jubilee’s digital insurance products on the M-TIBA platform.
The partners are currently developing a new range of mobile-first health policies for groups, saccos and chamas.
Under the new deal, Jubilee Health Insurance customers will be able to sign up and manage their health policies through M-TIBA’s mobile interface.
CarePay is also providing digital services through M-TIBA, including new member outreach, on boarding, claims handling and payments integration.
The partners are predicting that the rollout of convenient and cost-effective digital capabilities will support the growth of Kenya’s retail insurance segment by enabling more seamless product bundling and much wider access.
Jubilee Health Insurance Dr. Patrick Gatonga noted that there exists a lot of unexploited opportunities for insurers to tap into the area that is micro-insurance but with the right partners and mindset, more Kenyans will be able to reap the benefits of affordable insurance.
“The threat that out-of-pocket expenditures pose to households’ living standards is increasingly recognized as a major consideration in financing health care. This is so because 75 percent of the world’s population is not adequately protected by insurance, and 40 percent have no coverage at all,” Dr. Gatonga noted.
“We are therefore coming in to plug the deficit by giving Kenyans an alternative that enables them to contribute a small percentage of their income towards unforeseen medical expenditures,” he added.
Jubilee Health Insurance currently has close to 5,000 customers under this program and seeks to reach 20,000 customers by the end of 2021.
The arrangement will see the insurer roll out products that are simple, affordable, and convenient while health care providers will have access to real-time communications and transparency of clinic expenditures and revenues through M-TIBA.
CarePay Kenya Managing Director, Moses Kuria, noted that COVID-19 has changed people’s priorities on how they work, live, and seek care.
As legacy infrastructure and business models were challenged during the pandemic, the leading insurers are seeing digitization as the key for improving efficiencies, growth, and customer experience.
“We need to work together across the digital health ecosystem to achieve the universal healthcare coverage vision for Kenya. M-TIBA enables Jubilee Health Insurance to reach new underserved customers more cost effectively via mobiles and to improve accountability across the healthcare system,” he said.
“We also work with a panel of over 3,000 healthcare providers to streamline client access. Together, we are solving a dilemma of barriers to getting more people affordably insured access, financial sustainability, and trust,” Kuria noted.
The partnership comes months after Carepay partnered with Britam Holdings.
The October 2020 deal saw the companies get into a new strategic partnership to develop digital products to increase health insurance market penetration in Kenya.
The partnership was forged to help Britam and Carepay explore new mobile channels for Britam’s fast- growing micro insurance portfolio and the future management of retail and SME health insurance clients.
“The first offering of this partnership will be a mobile based inpatient health insurance available to over 4 million M-TIBA registered users,” the partners said during the launch.
Britam pioneered the micro insurance sector back in 2012 and is now the largest micro insurance provider in Kenya (AKI, 2018). It serves over 700,000 micro insurance members with innovative health, funeral and credit-linked solutions.
M-TIBA was developed by CarePay, in collaboration with PharmAccess and Safaricom. It has over 4 million registered users nationwide and is accepted by over 3,000 healthcare facilities.
It is working with leading insurers to provide a scalable and proven mobile customer interface and more efficient payment integration with their provider panels.
“We are passionate about supporting the drive for universal health coverage in Africa. Mobile channels are becoming a prerequisite for insurers, agents and brokers to diversify their products beyond the traditional corporate segments. Our partnership with Britam will simplify how its members pay and access medical care,” Kuria said.
