Insurers launch product for OFW

MANILA, Philippines — Global non-life insurance player Madanes Group, insurance and reinsurance broker Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) Group and local health insurance provider PhilHealthCare Inc. (PhilCare) have forged a partnership to launch a new product suited to the needs of overseas FIlipino workers (OFWs).

Called Bayani Family Care (BFC), the insurance product is designed to help address health and emergency hospitalization concerns of OFWs and their families.

“We have a lot of our countrymen outside of the Philippines who are working hard, sending money to educate their children and put food on their tables,” JLT Philippines president and CEO Raul Tan said.

Madanes Group president and CEO Ohad Madanes said the three companies came together to create a product that will give OFWs security against illnesses and hospitalization.

Philip Samson, deputy CEO and head of benefit solutions of JLT, said BFC aims to empower OFWs by providing protection and ensuring that their financial security is not threatened by illnesses.

“Right now in the Philippines, there is only about four percent of the population covered by HMO. The need arises – a lot of people are getting hospitalized. Fifty-eight percent of the money remittance coming here is actually for hospitalization, and it is sad because their dreams could all go down because of one simple illness,” PhilCare president and CEO Jaeger Tanco said.

With BFC, OFWs will have coverage on scheduled and emergency room care and confinement, and scheduled hospitalization benefits for viral and bacterial illnesses and injury treatments in more than 500 PhilCare-accredited hospitals nationwide.

This health insurance plan assures scheduled and emergency hospitalization and treatments for up to P60,000 annually. Part of its benefits include an optional unlimited outpatient medical consultations with pediatricians, cardiologists, endocrinologists, and more.

Valid for one year, BFC offers health coverage costing only P4,350 per person.

BFC requires no medical examinations, no hospital deposits, and no agents to meet and discuss. When claiming benefits, dependents would only need to present a BFC electronic voucher to any PhilCare accredited hospital.