MANILA, Philippines — The number of Filipinos covered by microinsurance rose by almost a fifth to 38.9 million last year as mutual benefit associations (MBAs) as well as life and non-life insurers increased sales of these cheaper products.
In a statement on Thursday, Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said the number of insured individuals increased 18.8 percent from 32.7 million in 2017.
Funa earlier said the government was targeting to increase the microinsurance penetration rate to 48.7 percent by 2022.
Microinsurance sold by MBAs covered 22.8 million individuals; by life insurance companies, 11.9 million; and non-life, 4.3 million, the latest Insurance Commission data showed.
“Based on the statistical data as of end-2018, we saw that the non-life and life insurance sectors showed significant increases in terms of premium production and number of lives covered. This only proves that microinsurance in our country continues to grow and is an effective and affordable financial product for the protection of the properties and lives of our countrymen,” Funa said.
Last year, total microinsurance premium production grew 14.5 percent to P8.1 billion from P7.1 billion in 2017.
Microinsurance sales of MBAs went up 16.8 percent to P4.6 billion last year.
Life insurers sold P2.6 billion in microinsurance products last year, up 6.9 percent.
Non-life insurance firms, meanwhile, sold P998.9 million in premiums in 2018, 25.8-percent higher than in the previous year.
In 2016, the Insurance Commission came out with microinsurance frameworks for agriculture, health, and pre-need products, making the Philippines widely regarded as a microinsurance model in the region.