Philam Life plans to reenter HMO business

Insurance giant Philippine-American Life and General Insurance Co. (Philam Life) plans to reenter the health maintenance organization (HMO) business as part of plans to rebuild its suite of products for the Philippine market.

Four years ago, its parent firm AIG sold to the group of businessman Eusebio Tanco Philam Life’s healthcare unit, PhilamCare Health Systems Inc., now rebranded as PhilhealthCare Inc. or Philcare.

AIG had to sell some Asian assets, including Philam Life’s healthcare unit, following the global financial crisis that hit hard Wall Street in 2009.

Philam Life is now part of Asia Pacific-focused group AIA, which was spun off from AIG.

“We’re now rebuilding. We’re trying to come up with a more comprehensive set of products and companies again,” Philam Life president Rex Mendoza said in a recent interview.

Wellness, he said, should be an integral component of the business.

On the institutional side of the business, such as for corporations planning employee benefits, Mendoza said it was rare these days for institutions to just buy group life insurance.

“Life (insurance) has become a rider to the medical product,” he said.

“Even employees, if you ask them, their main concern is not life insurance, it’s health so we need to come up with such product,” he said.

As such, Mendoza said Philam Life would like to reenter the HMO business, whether by buying an existing entity, building a new one from scratch or entering into strategic partnerships.

“It’s no secret that we’re looking for an acquisition on the HMO side,” Mendoza said.