Allianz joins in competition for health cover
German insurer Allianz said last week it would enter the personal health insurance market by early next year and take advantage of the growing demand for high-quality medical care.
If everything goes well, well be able to launch (private health insurance for individuals) as early as the first or second quarter of 2002, said Jerzy Nowak, chief medical consultant at Allianz Polska. The final date is not yet fixed as we first need to find hospitals that will be able to offer high standards for our clients.
Allianz, which entered Polands corporate health insurance market six months ago, plans to delve into the personal insurance sector by providing selected hospitals with financial assistance to improve the quality of their services and facilities.
Im aware that this would make the premium that our clients will have to pay higher, maybe even by 50%, and our target group may shrink, but there is no other way, Nowak said. Generally, weve been trying to work with medical centers that have very few contacts with the Patients Funds (the public health-care system under which medical services are contracted with hospitals and clinics) because we cant agree to a situation in which the same service is paid twice by a public and private insurer.
Allianz is not the first company to enter the private health-services sector. Non-public medical centers, which mainly offer health care to corporate employees on top of their state coverage, were established long before the 1999 reform of Polands health-care sector.
Six-year-old Medicover, a private chain of clinics that offers corporate medical services for a monthly premium, has been in Poland since 1995 and already has 60,000 clients. In contrast, Allianzs corporate health insurance business hasnt been so successful. I admit we havent been an overwhelming success, Nowak said. We have several hundred clients. Why? Because our product is a greater a burden to an employer when compared to the costs of services provided by companies such as Medicover or Luxmed.
According to Nowak, Allianz would have more clients if it werent for the unclear regulations that govern the health-care services market. Under the Labor Code, employers are required to foot the bill for some health-care services, such as annual medical tests for employees.
And this is why Medicovers services are 50% cheaper than ours, he said. While our premium is treated as additional income and is taxable, Medicover is tax free because they provide employers with services that are compulsory but are not provided by the Patients Funds. Nowak said that private medical companies like Medicover, in reality, provide health insurance.
Meanwhile, a source told the Business Journal that private insurers have created a powerful lobby whose goal is to block competitors from doing business. They (insurers) are new to the already-developed market and the difference between their product and the services provided by medical centers (paid via premiums) is small, the source said. So what they want is a ban on insurance services provided by non-insurers.
Nowak said that state watchdog, the Insurance Market Monitoring Office (PUNU), has already informed the prosecutors office about instances in which companies are selling health insurance without a license. The rules should be clear so let Medicover become an insurer with all its financial obligations, Nowak said. We are not against such companies, but we want fair competition.
Marcin Malinowski, a communications manager at Medicover, said hes aware of the grievences of insurance companies. But I dont think its a threat to our operations at the moment, he said. Weve been present on the market since 1995 and weve always operated in accordance with the Labor Code. We are insurers and pay compensation. What we offer is our readiness to help with the whole range of services from emergency care to hospitalization. You dont need a disaster to turn to us.
