HOLLARD MOZAMBIQUE: Optimistic Outlook for Healthy Hollard

Perhaps one of the most appealing and potential-packed sectors in Africa today, the health insurance market is rife with opportunity. In 2020, 70% of all premiums were paid in South Africa, leaving the balance of an almost $70 billion spread across 53 other nations. According to McKinsey & Company, ‘steady economic growth in most countries combined with a largely underdeveloped insurance sector have positioned the continent as the second-fastest-growing region for insurance globally after Latin America’.

Even through the Covid pandemic, industry commentators expected the sector to continue on a strong growth trajectory, perhaps slightly delayed rather than totally upended. CAGR of 7% was expected between 2020 and 2025 with Europe, Asia, and North America all facing slower growth.

Some of the big international players are already making moves; acquiring local companies, forming partnerships, and working with local brokers to enter underserved markets. But for Hollard – the largest privately-owned insurance group in South Africa – growing on the continent, in complex markets, while solving problems and achieving a purpose, is a long-term plan that requires local knowledge.

In Mozambique, health insurance is nascent with the majority of the population not covered or underinsured. The country itself has weak health infrastructure with many forced to walk for more than an hour to reach the nearest facility. A skills shortage is also prevalent with highly qualified doctors and nurses (mostly expats themselves dealing with expats) centred mainly around Maputo. However, the past two decades have seen vast improvements with treatment for HIV/AIDS much more widely available, and protective measures against malaria – a serious threat in Mozambique – on the rise.

For companies active in Mozambique looking to stand out from the crowd and attract the very best people, against the backdrop of a challenging health environment, Hollard is bringing a new solution. For the past six years, Hollard Mozambique has offered a health product in partnership with Cigna – a multinational managed healthcare and insurance company – providing extensive coverage to employees of some of the country’s biggest corporates. Now, Cigna and Hollard have decided to forge their futures separately in the African Health Insurance market. Hollard has revamped its offering to give clients both protection and freedom of choice. In its never-ending quest to be Mozambique’s favourite insurer, the company is proud of what has been achieved.

GROWING STEADILY

“We have grown steadily over the past years and we are now covering 9000 lives. We are number three in Mozambique by Gross Written Premium (GWP),” states Bruna Quintas, Employee Benefits: General Manager.

“It’s a comprehensive product covering almost every eventuality,” she adds. “We have now structured the product differently and we believe we are bringing something that will meet the needs of clients and members. We have a three-step product structure. Step One is basic, that includes inpatient coverage, condition management, wellness and preventative care, as well as evacuation and out of country assistance. A significant change that we have made here is removing the sub-limit for wellness and preventative care, which used to range from $200-$1000. This is in support of our commitment to the well-being of our members and to ensure that they live fully in good health. Here, we have five options starting from $75,000 all the way up to $10 million per member, per year.”

Condition management includes treatment for chronic conditions (as well as cancer, HIV, kidney dialysis, and more). “Unlike many competitors, chronic condition prescriptions do not come out of your outpatient limit,” says Manager: Hollard Health International, Lee-Ann Dobrescu. “Whether you are treated in a hospital or specialist clinic or have monthly medication, that all comes under this first basic step and the higher option limits offered. We are trying to ensure that we have taken care of the most challenging health events in Step One. Even if you’re just trying to live a healthy lifestyle, if you take Step One, you already have a comprehensive approach to your health and wellbeing.”

Step Two includes outpatient care, and Step Three includes dental and vision. “It is marketed to corporate and commercial clients, and it is only available to employers for the benefit of their employees and their dependents,” says Quintas.

The modular nature of the product allows clients to pick and choose the level of cover they want across the three steps. This allows them to tailor their benefits to their budget and the specific needs of their employees. By being able to offer international standard cover, employers in the country can attract and retain talent, ensuring their health and wellbeing is completely catered for.

With the limited number of healthcare professionals in Mozambique, Hollard will leverage their panel of medical expertise to support the doctors in providing members information on what to expect and how best to manage their condition. Treating people with empathy, care and dignity is what separates a good doctor from others, and what differentiates a favourite insurance company from the pack.

“As Hollard Health, we are committed to this market,” says Dobrescu. “We have made changes to our product based on the feedback we have from our customers. We have made sure we deliver a combination of fabulous digital tools, empowering people to take charge of their health and wellbeing, as well as the important human touch. When big things happen, real people, with real expertise will guide our members every step of the way. We take care of the details so they can focus on recovery. Our time in health has shown us that it is about way more than paying the bill.”

MOZAMBIQUE’S FAVOURITE

With clients, mostly recognisable industry leaders, a comprehensive product is required. These multinational corporations must be able to serve staff with an offering they know will protect and provide for in tough circumstances. In Mozambique, where health and education are among the basic services unevenly delivered across the country, a partner that is proven is welcomed. Hollard Mozambique has 20 years of experience, understanding local conditions and building relationships across the fertile country.  

“We are looking at employed individuals and we are looking at employers who want to ensure they can attract and retain the most talented individuals,” confirms Dobrescu. “We do particularly well in industries where expertise and knowledge are required. Where you have to attract the best skills, you must ensure you are offering a good mix of benefits. This speaks to providing those rich benefits as well as making sure you get access to care outside of Mozambique where required. Because it’s international, if the care is not available locally, we cover the costs of access caring outside of Mozambique. You can also choose to have an area of cover that is wider than just Africa. You might be an expat employee and you want to know that if you are ill, you can return home to be treated by a facility you know and trust. If you regularly commute between another country and Mozambique, you can choose to be covered in both locations.”

Currently, most European nations including the UK, France, Germany, and Portugal advise on insuring heavily when travelling to Mozambique. But costly travel policies are not suitable for those living and working in the country, looking to safeguard livelihoods and families. Protection must be developed by those who understand the local market, and that is why Hollard Mozambique’s offerings are tried and tested in Mozambique, by Mozambicans.

“Our vision is to be Mozambique’s favourite insurer,” states Quintas. “To grow, we are going to listen to our clients. That is what we have been doing and that is why we have been successful over the past six years. We have a strong international backing and we have the knowhow to provide quality services, but providing an excellent member experience comes from listening. Where we need to update our benefits, we do so. Where we need to update our services, we do so. Feedback from our clients, broker partners, and our providers – the hospitals, is key to continuously improving our offering,” she says, adding that the company is focussed on a win-win-win mentality.  

HOLLARD HEALTHIER

Already strong in the digital space, doing amazing things across its specialist lines – including agriculture and energy – Hollard Mozambique will not ignore the health space when it comes to digitisation. A new app, designed to encourage members to be healthier, is being launched which could help the company to offer further rewards and lower premiums. Hollard Healthier sees that members are able to obtain multiple health markers through a simple selfie. 

“We are giving people information to ensure they can be a little healthier every day and every week,” smiles Dobrescu. “It’s advanced technology where you take a scan of your face using your phone and you can find out your blood pressure, heart rate, risk of stroke, and more, before giving you a personal plan to ensure you become healthier while being rewarded along the way. We want to make sure people feel engaged with their health. Health is the new wealth, and we are committed to helping people live their healthiest lives. Our focus is on ensuring the people of Africa become as healthy as they can be.”

The policy also includes 24/7 access to a doctor through the members Hollard Health App,  where they can quickly organise telephone or video consultations delivered by Teladoc. An international partnership, this arrangement is an indicator of the company’s desire to bring global solutions and tailor to local problems, while simultaneously growing.

“We are managing to scale across all of Africa and that makes everything sustainable and our pricing for administration more realistic. Sadly, in Africa, many markets are too small to make sense on their own when it comes to delivering complex administration so we have consolidated and we handle the delivery on the back end from a single platform and that is what makes us more sustainable, across the 12 countries where we offer admitted solutions,” says Dobrescu on plans to roll out their health product to more and more countries across Africa.

“We have learnings which we are taking forward to ensure we have a sustainable offering. Ensuring that we are profitable in the long term and leveraging our scale across Africa means we will be able to consistently, over many years to come, continuously evolve and find a better way to deliver the best member experience possible.”  

FULL AMBIT

Locally, the hope is that more Mozambicans can take up the health product from Hollard. Right now, a premium product in the market, this group health offering should be made available to a wider audience agree Quintas and Dobrescu.

“Currently our clients are multinationals and large corporates. We have a medium-term view to introduce a product that we can offer to SMEs to increase access to health insurance in Mozambique,” says Quintas.

“Over time, in order to secure our place as Mozambique’s favourite insurer, we need to be a favourite to the full ambit of people who want health insurance,” says Dobrescu.

“We want to service a broader range of consumers in Mozambique using a nice mix of smart technology as well as treating people with care and dignity which aligns with the Hollard purpose. If you can get the balance right between great technology alongside the human touch when people need it, our research shows that is what people really want.”

Competitors in the market are strong with big budgets, but often lacking the local knowledge of Hollard. ‘By Africa, in Africa, for Africa’ is one of the company’s core principles, and this is why it is aware of the need to include maternity care within Step One, and how it knows that psychiatric and psychological care are more desired than ever before as part of an overall health offering.

“We always use local knowledge to refine and enhance products so that we meet the needs in given markets. We have a great mix of internationalised best practice combined with local knowhow, insight, and relationships,” confirms Dobrescu, a Hollard veteran of more than two decades.

“Hollard is an African company and we are not going anywhere. We are in this market to stay,” she adds. “We are building our business all the time, and we are only going to increase what we do across a range of products and propositions. We are going to build our health proposition to serve a broader range of the community to meet the needs on the ground, learning and growing as we go.”

In 2021, The Financial Sector Deepening Moçambique (FSDMo) found that 11% of the population was formally insured and 6% was informally insured but coverage was often limited to funeral, personal accident, crop and credit life, with just two providers offering a hospital cash plan. Clearly, like the rest of the continent, there is a wide-open space in the health insurance sector, both for individuals and employee benefits. “Health is the fastest growing insurance product and the largest by premium volume in Mozambique and is therefore high on the priority list for the company,” says Quintas.

LEVERAGING TECHNOLOGY

Healthcare in Mozambique is at a crossroads. Building on the past 20 years of progress, embracing technology, and adopting new funding models will help the country to grow. But lacking support, infrastructure, and information will result in stagnation. For Hollard Mozambique, where collaboration is key, the wider development of the economy as well as servicing of clients to world-class standards will continue through a mix of innovation and technology, all aimed at providing the best care in Africa.

“We want to be sure we leverage technology in a way that ensures you get the right access to care. It’s a product you buy and consume from day one and the opportunity with technology is more around the delivery of the care. That is where we see the opportunity going forward,” insists Dobrescu.

“We are in health for the long haul – this is just the beginning of what we are doing in health,” smiles Quintas.

The Deloitte African Insurance Outlook for 22 stated that for the wider continental insurance industry, ‘even though the waters are by no means calm it is clear to see that the industry has reset its course to profitability and growth’. With so much more data available in the health space, a symbiotic relationship is growing between client and insurer. For the likes of Hollard Mozambique, where quality care is the top of their agenda, the fabled win-win-win is now more achievable than ever before.