More Filipinos now covered by insurance

ALMOST one out of every three Filipinos is now covered by insurance, mainly as more than a fourth of the population has access to microinsurance, according to the Insurance Commission.

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel F. Dooc told reporters yesterday that to date, 32 percent of the population were covered by some form of insurance policy, the highest ever insurance penetration rate thus far.

This means that about 32 million Filipinos have insurance policies, of which around 28 million are covered by microinsurance as of end-2014, Dooc said on the sidelines of the 66th anniversary celebration of the Insurance Commission.

Dooc noted that besides insurance policies, many Filipinos were also covered by state pension funds Government Service Insurance System and Social Security System.

Microinsurance products have a high take-up in the country because of lower premiums—a maximum worth 7.5 percent of the minimum daily wage of a non-agricultural worker, equivalent to about P34 in Metro Manila—usually paid on a daily basis to serve those who cannot afford to pay higher premiums, among them farmers and teachers.

Microinsurance contributions are being paid mostly to mutual benefit associations (MBAs) as well as cooperatives, although a number of bigger and more established insurance companies have also ventured into it.
According to Dooc, he personally aimed to increase to 50 percent or half of the population the insurance penetration rate in the country by 2019.