Allianz Ayudhya General Insurance (AAGI) is planning to grow contributions from health insurance to 40% from 30% within five years, banking on the post-pandemic uptick in health consciousness as displayed by rising medical expenses and new products.
To achieve the target, the company will focus more on the middle to upper segment, which should increase from 45% to 50% of the total, said Lars Heibutzki, AAGI president and chief executive.
Typically the middle to upper segment cover customers with average monthly income of between 20,000-80,000 baht.
Mr Heibutzki said the other two segments, high-spending and mass market, will decline to 30% and 20%, from 32% and 23%, respectively.
AAGI wants to emphasise health insurance because customers are not as price-sensitive compared with other insurance products, such as motor insurance, he said.
The health insurance segment also has higher renewal rates as people are keen to take good care of their health, said Mr Heibutzki.
The company predicts gross written premiums this year of nearly 12 billion baht, after recording 10.1 billion last year, of which health insurance premiums tallied 3.2 billion, accounting for 30%.
Together with Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS), AAGI launched a new health insurance plan named Exclusive Care @BDMS, targeting the middle upper segment seeking services across more than 50 hospitals under BDMS.
The scheme offers two plans with medical coverage of 1.5 million and 5 million baht per year, with room coverage of 5,000 and 7,000 baht, respectively. The new plans could gain 1 billion baht in premiums within five years, according to AAGI.
Narumol Noi-Am, executive committee member and chief financial officer at BDMS, said only 10% of Thailand's population has health insurance, far below the global average at 50%.
In 2023, only 36% of customers at BDMS claimed medical expenses through insurance, while 50% were self-paid patients.
Mrs Narumol said since the pandemic, people are more thoughtful about their health, especially the younger generation. Within three years, BDMS forecasts patients utilising insurance will rise to 50% as service expenses rise and demand hikes for complex disease treatment.
AAGI said it wants to focus on integrating its online and offline distribution strategy for this product.