AXA Philippines’ health campaign launch: The country’s state of health

MANILA, Philippines - AXA Philippines of the internationally renowned financial protection and wealth management company AXA Group and Metrobank, launched its market-starting products last week as part of an overall health campaign in conjunction with the Department of Health.

A panel made up of AXA Philippines President and CEO Rien Hermans, Chief Marketing Officer Amor Balagtas, DOH Undersecretary of Health Dr. Teodoro Herbosa, and consultant Dr. Renzo Guinto discussed the state of health for the average Filipino today, as well as the possible initiatives for improving it. 

“For me it’s actually a very exciting moment, because what we are going to do is quite new in the Philippines,” said Hermans, in his opening remarks. He mentioned working in the Philippines some 15 years ago, for an HMO, though it was frustrating to see very little coverage for the average Filipino out of the health products available then. “Five years ago I came back to the Philippines. And only now I think we are able to launch products which basically open a whole new market.”

The present state of health in the Philippines was presented first by Dr. Guinto, who gave a general overview, and then expounded further by Undersecretary Herbosa. In general, life expectancy for the Filipino has increased, though there are caveats.

“We are living longer, and the elderly population is gradually increasing,” Dr. Guinto explained, “but retirement age continues to be at 65.”

This means health systems will need more resources, particularly in the health workforce. It also means that individuals will need to be prepared, financially, to join the elderly population.

And though the average Filipino lives longer than he has ever done, he also gets sick and dies more often from chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Also known as ‘lifestyle diseases’, NCDs refer to diseases not caused by pathogens or biological agents (as opposed to communicable diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, or measles). NCDs are not infectious, but rather are a result of environment, lifestyle choices, or genetics.

“We are not protected enough from financial risks that come with illness, specifically non-communicable diseases,” Dr. Guinto added.

Expensive

Although no major national survey of the prices of health services available exists, the National Statistical Coordination Board reported that 53% of Filipino patients paid out of pocket in 2011. The cost of healthcare can truly be impoverishing, with triple bypass surgery for heart disease costing as much as Php900,000 and a kidney transplant as much as Php1 million.

“Having a critical illness can be very expensive,” said Amor Balagtas of AXA Philippines. ‘I guess this is not very nice to look at, but 250,000 families every year go through financial difficulty because of a critical illness that either hit them or a family member.’

And while it is true that more treatment is available nowadays, the point is that being financially prepared for it is crucial. She said “53% of health expenses come out of pocket.”

“That means we’re really not prepared for it. We typically save money for, I don’t know, buying the newest gadget or for a trip, but very rarely do you see someone saving up for a potential need such as this. And when such an incident happens, most people, nine out of ten, are forced to use up their savings, and five out of ten have to borrow money.,” Balagtas said.

Today, looking at the total population, one out of ten Filipinos has some form of health insurance, and with these primarily from HMOs. “One thing we want to heighten the awareness of is that critical illness can happen more often than we think,” said Balagtas, giving a brief presentation on AXA’s two new products. “At AXA we want to be able to help our regular Filipino consumer, by making sure that these products are made known to them, that they exist in the market today.”

The first, Health Exentials, acts as AXA’s “all-in-one,” being “simple,” “easy,” and “very affordable,” with “as low as 59 pesos a day and coverage for as much as five million.” The alternative is Health Max, which guarantees “maximum health coverage for life—typically other plans stop coverage at age 70, but Health Max covers up to an age of 100 and ‘coverage can reach as much as ten million.”

“The main reason why we have this campaign is to first of all build awareness of how critical illness can hit anyone, anywhere, anytime,” said Balagtas. “What we really want to advocate and educate about is that there is a need to supplement whatever health cover you have. It’s a very real situation, and we have to make sure we are prepared for it, both in terms of lifestyle and from a financial perspective.”