“Filipinos have always been highly underinsured,” shares AXA Philippines President and CEO Rahul Hora during a recent interview. But if there has been a silver lining to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is that Filipinos are now looking to learn more about insurance, and getting protected.
Despite frightening numbers, as of the latest count, COVID-19 has not been the leading cause of death in 2021. As of October of 2021, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reports that the number one cause of mortality in the Philippines from January to October of 2021 is the same as it usually is: heart diseases with 110,332 cases or 18.3 percent.
COVID-19 accounted for 75,285 deaths or 12.5 percent of the total deaths in the country.
“This means that even prior to and beyond COVID-19, there have been and always will be prevalent and real threats to life and health. These can, and all too often do, have catastrophic consequences for the underinsured,” Hora points out.
The upside to this development is that COVID-19 has made Filipinos more aware of the inevitability of getting sick. Data from a study by NielsenIQ done during the pandemic, called “Winning in the Insurance Category during COVID-19,” has shown that Filipinos are now more willing to invest in insurance. In the new normal, 98 percent of Filipinos now consider insurance important, and 65 percent regard it as a need, not just a want.
But in the Philippines, disease is only one problem.
According to the Asian Disaster Reduction Center (ADRC), the country gets an average of 20 typhoons a year, five of which are destructive.
Just at the beginning of the year, AXA gave a cash donation towards relief efforts for typhoon Odette; they also gave a grace period for premiums payments so that customers and/or their families in affected areas could have a bit of financial elbow room. Apart from typhoons, strong earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are also not uncommon in the Philippines because it is located in the Pacific Ring of Fire.
Natural disasters, accidents, and the general unpredictability of life pose real risks to homes, vehicles, businesses, income, and even travel. For most working Filipinos, such assets are irreplaceable.
However, with insurance, the sudden loss of any of these does not have to be drastically life-altering. “As a general rule, if you can’t afford to replace something immediately, it should be insured. To not have adequate coverage for any such asset is to be underinsured,” sums up Hora.
In response to COVID-19, AXA greatly improved online access to services. Lack of access to insurance and related services was a big problem at the start of the pandemic. Since smartphone penetration in the Philippines is very high at 74.1 percent of the total population, AXA decided to engage Filipinos in the digital space for the following reasons: it is where they consume content; it is their communication space; it offers Filipinos comfort, convenience, and safety—plus they know to navigate it very well.
