Statistics by the World Bank show that an average Ugandan spends approximately 120,000 UGX, out of pocket, on medical treatment. With an average age of 17 and less than 500,000 Ugandans with medical insurance today, there’s urgent need fill this gap and ensure as many Ugandans can access affordable medical care through health insurance.
This has triggered historical companies in finance and insurance, Stanbic bank and Prudential respectively to come up with Stanbic MediProtect, a Medical Insurance Cover for Ugandans.
Under this, with just UGX600, 000 or USD166 investment (silver package), Stanbic customers are now able to acquire for themselves and loved ones, annual medical insurance cover of up to UGX20million.
Unveiled on Wednesday at Crested Tower, Kampala, MediProtect is open to Stanbic Bank Uganda customers and any of their nominated dependents, irrespective of age.
The Gold package whose premium costs UGX1,000, 000 offers up to UGX70m in medical cover value for a year while Platinum category available at UGX2million gives policy holders nearly UGX120million in annual value—and a long list of benefits.
Without a national health insurance programme—the Stanbic Bank MediProtect is the closest a Ugandan without formal medical cover from an employer can get an affordable health insurance.
MediProtect cover can be accessed by policy holders at over 380 medical outlets across the country, that are affiliated to Prudential Uganda.
Sam Mwogeza, Stanbic Bank’s Executive Head for Consumer Banking said, “MediProtect is a direct lesson from our experience as a country in the last two years of the Covid-19 pandemic—we are offering a solution that enables every Stanbic Uganda customer to get medical insurance for themselves, relatives and loved ones and be assured of accessing professional medical care when they fall ill.”
Although medical insurance is fast growing in Uganda, 2018 research by Insurance Institute of Uganda found that only 5 per cent of Ugandans had health insurance—most of those are on corporate medical schemes sponsored by their employers.
“At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we lost many of our people who couldn’t afford medical bills even those deemed to be relatively well off, financially, were drained of all their cash savings due to prolonged hospitalisation.”
Tetteh Ayitevie, CEO Prudential Uganda said that as Uganda continues her steady match towards becoming a middle-income economy, a growing insurance industry is key in aiding this movement.
He said that the COVID-19 pandemic has also highlighted to every Ugandan the importance of easy access to affordable healthcare.
Ugandan enterprises urged to explore regional oil and gas opportunities“The high cost of out-of-pocket spend is currently of major concern for every individual and as a leading life and health insurance provider, we are intentional on helping people to worry less about how they access healthcare and its impact on their finances,” he said.
He noted “our purpose at Prudential is to help people make the most out of life and we believe that Stanbic MediProtect is a demonstration that we are dedicated to helping individuals and families in every step of their health, wealth, and wellness journey; by ensuring they can afford good medical care, which is core to good health, adding that, “For an affordable fee, a Stanbic Bank client can now have peace of mind that should they need to access medical help, they will worry-less about the cost and quality of medical access.”
He said that the collaboration between the institutions who are both market leaders in their respective industries pave way for innovative solutions that are also crucial in the efforts to deepen access to financial services in Uganda.
Stanbic MediProtect is a flexible insurance cover allowing clients who already have an insurance cover by virtue of their employment, to buy a medical insurance package for their loved ones and dependents who may not fall under their employer’s cover.
The product also covers advanced age adults of 70 plus years, and can be accessed by the bank’s customers through Stanbic Bank’s website.
Stanbic MediProtect has been designed with the customer’s needs in mind offering solutions to preexisting barriers to the uptake of medical insurance. Stanbic Bank and Prudential Uganda believe that this product will be the start to every family actively ensuring that all its members and close relatives are covered against medical emergencies.
According to Paul Nagemi, the Chief Health Officer at Prudential Uganda, this product underscores the importance of having something set aside for a rainy day including both savings and health insurance.
“We are glad to not only unveil this partnership with Stanbic Bank Uganda but also launch this unique product that will enable customers to add as many beneficiaries as they want to, at very affordable contributions.”
The beneficiaries can be their immediate, extended family or financial dependents. This product provides competitive outpatient (dentistry, optical antenatal and inpatient benefits in over 200 health facilities country wide,” he said.
According to the World Health Organization Global Expenditure database, an estimated 38% percent of Uganda’s health expenditures are paid by individuals through out-of-pocket costs, followed by development partners (41%), the government (16%), and others (5%).
