HMO sales up amid pandemic

MANILA, Philippines — The health maintenance organization (HMO) sector’s bottom line soared by 660.36 percent to P6.77 billion during the first nine months of 2020 as sales inched up amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The latest Insurance Commission (IC) data showed 24 HMO firms’ total net income as of end-September last year jumped from P890.2 billion a year ago.

Their total revenues grew 4.12 percent to P38.27 billion from a year ago’s P36.76 billion.

Last year, Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa attributed increasing sales to Filipinos “increasingly recognizing the value of availing HMO products as part of health protection” during the pandemic.

Total assets climbed 32.93 percent to P49.54 billion, even as liabilities also rose 19.37 percent to P36.55 billion.

Funa had blamed HMOs’ rising liabilities on unearned membership fees, which accounted for about three-fifths of the total.

“It can be presumed that this is due to the difficulties encountered by the HMO industry in the collection of membership fees because of certain restrictions imposed by the national government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Funa explained in November last year.

The HMO sector’s total equity nearly doubled to P12.99 billion, while its capital stock declined 6.19 percent to P2.75 billion.