Muscat - Medical insurance, which is fast becoming a top priority for local insurance firms, showed maximum growth among different types of insurance portfolios in Oman last year.
Healthcare insurance showed a robust growth of 38 per cent to generate OMR63 million premium income, out of a total direct premium revenue of OMR364 million.
The country's insurance companies have posted a 10.4 per cent growth in direct premiums at OMR364 million in 2013. In terms of market share, medical insurance constitutes 17 per cent of total insurance premium, according to statistics released by the Capital Market Authority (CMA).
Employee medical insurance is a cashless scheme wherein the insurance company, which ties up with hospitals/polyclinics, gets volume business and the employees get access to cashless healthcare facilities. Once the company pays its group medical premium, there is no administrative work for the company and all worries related to employee healthcare would rest with the insurance company and the concerned hospital.
Property insurance, which constitutes 14 per cent of total direct premium, showed a growth of 21 per cent, while life segment declined by 17 per cent last year.
The retention rate in health insurance remained constant at 40 per cent last year, while vehicle insurance showed the highest retention rate at 87 per cent. Retention rates in property, transport and engineering insurances are the lowest compared to other insurances with 7 per cent, 22 per cent and 23 per cent, respectively, due to reinsuring the main portion of these risk with reinsurance firms.
The net premium from medical insurance grew 36 per cent to OMR25.09 million, out of a total net premium of OMR195.47 million last year. As far as employee insurance is concerned, the tendency of companies to make arrangements with designated clinics for providing healthcare facilities is becoming a story of the past, and a group medical coverage is now the norm, rather than the exception.
Oman has been considering the introduction of compulsory medical insurance for expatriate workers for the past three to four years, like Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. However, no decision has been taken so far. Within next two years, almost 90 per cent of companies are expected to go for group medical insurance for their employees.
© Times of Oman 2014
