Government Aims To Cover 50 Million Filipinos With Microinsurance By 2022

Government Aims To Cover 50 Million Filipinos With Microinsurance By 2022

In the next four years, the government is aiming to cover 11 Million Filipinos under inclusive insurance to provide protection and financial security especially in times of calamities.

The Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Gil Beltran told reporters disclosed to reporters earlier on Tuesday night the sidelines of a briefing on German-Philippine cooperation in shaping inclusive insurance. He said that their agency would like to cover at least 50 million (Filipinos) by 2022, and they actually want to go to farmers insurance.

According to Beltran, microinsurance which is a product for low-income people was able to cover 38.9 million Filipinos in 2018 from just less than 3 million reported in 2009. He bared a plan to transform the Philippine Crop Insurance Corporation (PCIC) into a reinsurer instead of competing with the private sector as an insurer. And, once this takes effect, he said the private provision of farmers insurance will become more competitive.

The DOF official also noted:

“Let the private sector provide the product and let the PCIC become more active, play a more active role as a reinsurer to diversify the risk. Because microinsurance providers, they are limited to certain areas and if a typhoon strikes and everything is wiped out, so kawawa siya (pitiful).”

Beltran hopes that with the passage of the fourth package of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which lowers the taxes on financial assets and removing the exceptions for some products, more Filipinos would be enticed to get a microinsurance.

Among the success stories of microinsurance in the Philippines was during the aftermath of the super typhoon Yolanda. Beltran recalled that after Yolanda, those covered with microinsurance claimed an estimated amount of PHP500 million. Claims were made mostly from non-banking institutions like pawnshops and remittance centers -both of which cater and were more accessible to those in the lower classes, and those claims were vital to the rehabilitation of the survivors.

Beltran then cited that that beyond accomplishing the goal of financial inclusion, microinsurance also took on the role of social safety net for vulnerable segments of the population during those tough times.
[Source]

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