Union Assurance launches MediGuard for family

Thursday, 21 March 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

By Rashika Fazali

Catering to families, Union Assurance (UA) PLC recently launched Union MediGuard, a comprehensive health insurance solution for families which comes with full coverage and is affordable.

UA also announced plans to launch an island-wide health awareness program under the ‘Union Health Week’ starting today (21) which will look at wellbeing and future health emergency planning with discussions based on the health or life insurance policies.

Furthermore, their first medical expense reimbursement rider MediGuard gives equal protection to all members of the family with a solution that combines savings and investment elements of Life insurance. It covers surgeries ranging from a simple flu to a major illness, nursing and room charges, doctor and consultant fees, ICU and operating theatre charges and a 136-day care surgical procedure. Speaking at the launch, UA CEO Dirk Pereira said: “We are very excited about Union MediGuard. One thing about MediGuard is that affordability comes into play. The other thing is the limit. It creates the coverage.” The health insurance covers each member of the family from Rs. 100,000 to Rs. 500,000 per year and Rs. 2.5 million during term of the policy. In this case, not only are the father and mother protected, but the children as well. UA is set to give suitable discounts for certain cover amounts.

The policy can only cover a maximum of five children along with the parents. It is eligible for parents above the age of 19 and below the age of 60 and can be covered up to 70 years of age. The children can only be eligible for this health insurance after 90 days of birth and before 18 years of age and it can continue to cover up to 23 years of age.

Pereira stated that as Sri Lanka’s population is ageing very rapidly, this health insurance can also cover the older generation. UA Life Brands Senior Brand Manager Aminda Udithathilake stated that this kind of insurance policy was introduced after a thorough research on consumer’s problems with having health insurance. He added that consumers had expressed their difficulty in covering the increasing medical expenses and complained of having to share the insurance with other members. He also stated that some consumers were unhappy with small health insurance covers with no options given for minor surgeries and having no cover when it was extremely needed.

Union MediGuard combined with the Union Life Advantage Plan will give the insurer additional benefits such as hospital cash benefits, accidental benefits, disability benefits, critical illnesses coverage along with a waiver of premium (WOP).

He also noted that the Union MediGuard cover can only be used within the country and is offered for private hospitals and paying wards. In conclusion, Pereira said: “We hope to build a service element around the brand. What we wanted to do was meet the fundamental needs of the market.”

Pix by Lasantha Kumara