A Para: The Economy's Insurance

Summary

In March 2020 I was a guest on the Ekonominin Sigortası programme on A Para and assessed the industry's state in the first quarter of the year. I said health insurance had made a good start despite premiums rising with medical inflation, with complementary health insurance in particular growing by roughly 45 per cent over the last three years; the high price of private health insurance was pushing that demand further. In motor liability and motor own-damage, the picture was troubled. I introduced us too: we are an insurance broker serving every line, but focused on the health vertical through tamamlayicisaglik.com.

I explained the differences between complementary and private health insurance concretely. Private health insurance gives access to A-class hospital groups like Amerikan Hastanesi and Memorial, and applies amount-based outpatient limits and co-payment. Complementary health insurance covers, for people with state insurance, the difference above what the state pays at contracted private hospitals; inpatient treatment is usually covered in full, outpatient treatment has count-based limits like eight to ten visits a year, and options with fewer visits lower the premium. In Turkey we see a doctor 4.25 times a year on average; tests and X-rays count against that number. For maternity, private health insurance asks for a one-year waiting period; in complementary cover it ranges from one to eight months, and products covering an existing pregnancy have appeared. With circumcision cover and products that cover pre-existing conditions like diabetes and heart disease, the sector is moving toward a tailor-made system.

To the question of what to watch for when buying a policy, I had an answer I had thought about a lot: the three or four pages of special terms. What people fear in insurance is being unable to collect a claim because of small-print conditions. That is why at tamamlayicisaglik.com we put every health policy's coverage, sub-limits, exclusions, contracted hospitals and waiting periods on a comparable screen; a structure that shows under which conditions you can use the policy after buying it, rather than one focused on price. I still said that asking an expert insurer is a must; someone who knows should confirm that the policy will do what you intend.

On new-generation products I described smart motor cover that measures driving habits through vehicle tracking, health policies shaped by steps and heart rate through wearables, and cyber-security insurance. I grouped cyber cover under three headings: liability and penalties arising from data loss; administrative fines from reputational damage, copyright violation or a social-media post; and business-interruption losses together with restoring the system. I added that some insurers offer a first-48-hours response and crisis-management package with cyber-security firms. We discussed rising earthquake-insurance awareness after the Elazığ and Malatya earthquakes, the sector's turn to rapid investment after seven years of being called slow on digital transformation, and regulation trailing technology. Insurance, which nobody looked at fourteen years earlier, had become a subject people want to learn; in Germany a person holds five policies on average. Our 2020 goal was to renew the site and add maternity and private health comparison; with thirteen years behind us we were growing at more than a hundred per cent, and every baby born under our maternity cover counted as a success for us.

In this talk

• First quarter of 2020: a strong start on the health side, a troubled picture in motor liability and own-damage
• Roughly 45 per cent growth in complementary health insurance over three years; private health prices driving demand
• Private health: A-class hospital groups, amount-based outpatient limits, co-payment
• Complementary health: the difference above state cover, full inpatient cover, eight to ten outpatient visits a year; 4.25 doctor visits a year on average in Turkey
• Maternity cover: a one-year wait in private, one to eight months in complementary, products covering existing pregnancy
• Circumcision cover and products covering pre-existing conditions like diabetes and heart disease; a move toward a tailor-made system
• The three or four pages of special terms when buying; the fear of being unable to collect because of small print
• Comparing coverage, sub-limits, exclusions, contracted hospitals and waiting periods at tamamlayicisaglik.com
• Asking an expert insurer is a must; have your purpose confirmed
• New-generation products: smart motor cover with vehicle tracking, health policies tied to wearables
• Cyber insurance's three headings: data-loss liability, reputation and copyright fines, business interruption; 48-hour response packages
• Earthquake awareness after Elazığ and Malatya; accelerating investment in digital transformation; how insurance's image changed in fourteen years, and the 2020 goals

Some kinds of insurance are no longer an option; they've become a necessity.