Digital won’t solve all cross-border insurance challenges
The financial service industry’s digital future won’t be a fix-all solution to cross-border insurance. A report from industry body Insurance Europe notes that the digitalization of the insurance sector will reshape the way insurers innovate, distribute and interact with customers. It highlights the benefits to consumers such as more efficient claims-handling, easier customer identification and increased comparability of products.
However, in an increasingly globalized economy there is likely to be more demand for cross-border insurance products (especially in trading blocs such as the EU.)
Insurance Europe director Michaela Koller commented that cross-border products should remain market-driven and should be done with great care, especially in determination of premiums: “The design of insurance products reflects the market and regulatory conditions of the country in which they are sold, which in turn influences the risk a particular policyholder represents.”
Health insurance terms are a struggle for consumers
Consumers who buy their own health insurance struggle with some of the basic terms according to a new report.
The Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy and the Episcopal Health Foundation (EHF) studied buyers of individual health insurance plans in Texas and found that even terms such as “premium” and “deductible” confused many who bought their own insurance compared to those with Medicare, Medicaid or employee-sponsored schemes.
For example, 25 per cent of Texans with employee-sponsored health insurance said they weren’t sure of the meaning of "maximum out-of-pocket expenses,” but that rose to more than 42 per cent among those bought their own health insurance plans.
"The unfortunate irony is that those with individual health insurance plans are the least likely to understand the basic terms, but they have the greatest need to understand them," said Elena Marks, EHF's president and CEO and a nonresident health policy fellow at the Baker Institute.
The report found Texans who bought their own health insurance also had more difficulty understanding how to use their health plans. More than half (51 per cent) said that they lacked confidence to understand how much it would cost to go to care providers outside of their plan's network.
Canadian insurer proves green credentials
Canadian insurance company iA Financial Group (Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services Inc.) has published its latest Social Responsibility Report and has shown some large improvements during 2015.
The Quebec City-based insurer has seen its waste materials recovery rate rise more than 10 percentage points since 2012, to 83 per cent. It has invested $253 million in renewable energy and cut its greenhouse gas emissions from business travel by almost 40 per cent.
The firm also made donations to around 500 organizations, totaling $3.9 million and Yvon Charest, President and CEO of iA Financial Group commented “As a sustainable company, we create economic value, a sound business environment and strong ties with communities."
