AXA underscores importance of insurance

AXA Philippines, a life and nonlife insurance company, underlined the need of insurance and understanding the appropriate types of coverage to satisfy one’s needs in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It said in a statement on Friday that Filipinos have traditionally been underinsured, even among those with disposable income and the implications have been nothing short of catastrophic.

The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic brings this essential need for insurance into sharper focus than ever before. According to AXA, insurance can be the difference between life and death, health and long-term disease, and financial security and destitution these days.

Putting this urgent need for insurance in sharp perspective, more than ever before, is the still ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. These days, insurance is often the difference between life and death, health or lingering illness and financial security or destitution, AXA added.

The firm said it closely follows Philippine health care and its president and chief executive office, Rahul Hora, described the gloomy reality.

“Too many Filipinos are apparently only one health care crisis away from poverty. It’s so prevalent that there is actually a term for it: ‘medical impoverishment.’ This is a catastrophic health care crisis in which the resulting out-of-pocket health care spending causes a person who was previously not poor to become impoverished,” he emphasized.

AXA said it is no longer a matter of whether Filipinos can afford insurance, given the heightened risk of the nightmarish scenario of medical impoverishment. They should consider if they can afford to be underinsured indefinitely.

If there is a silver lining to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that Filipinos are becoming more conscious than at any other time in history of the dangers of being uninsured. It was emphasized that those who have become aware of the terrible situation are actively looking for insurance choices.

However, the company said that understanding the importance of insurance and knowing which products are appropriate for one’s requirements are two very different things.

“Few understand the individualized nature of insurance. There are several variables to consider when assessing the types of insurance a person needs. Aside from aging, people acquire assets, such as cars, that can be wrecked or houses that can burn down; for most, acquiring such assets was likely the work of a lifetime, and they are virtually irreplaceable. People get married and have kids, so their health and income become even more crucial and thus need better coverage,” Hora concluded.