Cigna confident of double-digit growth amid strong demand for healthcare

The company’s chief executive officer and country manager, Julian Mengual, said that the growing health-consciousness among Thai people was one trend pushing the company’s growth.
The company also aimed for Bt150 million in premiums from its existing Cigna Enhanced Health Insurance Plan, covering a range of conditions such as cancer, diabetes, hypertension and sick office syndrome. This insurance plan will be the key product generating premiums for the company in 2017, he added.
Cigna Thailand launched the enhanced health insurance plan last year. It can be personalised, allowing customers to select the coverage they want at a price they can afford. 
This year, Cigna will continue to raise awareness about its enhanced plan by launching brand campaign “Superhero” with the brand campaign VDO under “Super Hero” concept. 
“Overall, the health insurance market in year 2017 still shows good signs and is possibly able to grow two digits because of the growing awareness towards health among Thai people,” Mengual added.
Thailand’s health insurance market is forecast to grow around 11 per cent, while the personal accident (PA) insurance market is expected to grow by around 4 per cent. In total, the combined PA and health insurance market is forecast to grow 8 per cent, he said. 
The health insurance growth is expected to exceed that of PA, according to the health and wellness trend driving both the private and government sectors. 
Mengual said that the findings from the Cigna 360 Well-being Survey this year that Thai people worry most about their financial status and that they perform “poorly” in financial and family aspects of their lives. They worry that they are falling into the “age trap”, where people do not feel old and want to stay active as they get older, but fail to adequately plan for retirement.
Cigna plans to leverage the insights from this survey as the basis for new market initiatives in 2017 to better meet the needs of Thai people. Cigna aims to deliver relevant products and service solutions for various stages of people’s lives. 
Cigna’s well-being survey 360 is a major global survey examining and tracking perceptions and attitudes towards overall health and well-being across five key pillars – physical, social, family, financial and workplace – in 13 countries including Thailand.
Speaking of the trend to an ageing population in Thailand, Mengual said that according to the government’s public relations department, the country’s ageing population is expected to increase to 17 million by 2040, accounting for 25 per cent of the population.
He added that the ageing population, the eroding health status and the rise of chronic conditions pose challenges for healthcare consumers individually, as well as Thai society at-large. These forces are contributing to increasing demand for greater access to healthcare and insurance products that offer a sense of security and are both affordable and of high quality.
Cigna Thailand has around 450,000 policyholders as of now. It aims to increase its customer base in accordance with targeted sales growth this year, Mengual added.