Global: Chubb develops pay-as-you-roam travel insurance
Chubb has announced the development of a pay-as-you-roam (PAYR) travel insurance proposition. The PAYR service uses digital technology to simplify the way customers access and purchase travel insurance, using mobile ‘phone roaming data to identify when they are away from their home country, activating coverage automatically at a daily premium.
The PAYR travel insurance has been developed to make life easier for customers and to provide a compelling proposition for its business partners, said Chubb head of travel Insurance, continental Europe, Middle East and North Africa, A&H Ruben Rivero.
The insurer said the service will be made available through its partners in banking, FinTech and telecommunications industries. To use the service, customers must first register for free through the Chubb partner’s core app, where they can also add the names of other travellers they would like to include on trips.
Trip cover is activated when the customer is detected as roaming and a text message or the app’s pop-up notification informs the customer that cover is in place. Customers have four hours from receipt of this either to decline coverage for the trip or to confirm who needs to be included for cover, if they did not do this prior to travel.
Trip cover ends when the customer is detected as no longer roaming (has returned to their home country) or if they reach the maximum trip duration limit of 31 days. Customers will receive an email or app notification at the end of each trip detailing the total premiums. If the Chubb partner is a mobile phone operator the cost of the insurance is added to their next monthly mobile phone bill, or to their next bank statement, if the partner is a bank.
Bahrain: Solidarity launches life insurance plan with COVID-19 cover
Solidarity Bahrain has launched a new life insurance plan that offers compensation in case of death, disabilities, accompanied by other features such as worldwide coverage and no prior medical records required. It includes benefits such as various optional limits with COVID-19 cover, no specific age-band pricing and flexible premium options.
“As part of our continuous efforts in providing safety and protection plans for our customers, we are glad to introduce the new life insurance plan with COVID-19 cover included,” said Solidarity Bahrain head of medical and life Rashid Turk. “This plan has been designed to cope with current situations and its stressors at a very affordable price.”
Bahrain: Gulf Air offers complimentary COVID-19 travel coverage to all passengers
Gulf Air will offer complimentary COVID-19 travel insurance coverage to all ticket holders. This will include health and quarantine expenses if customers are diagnosed with or contract COVID-19 during their journey.
All tickets booked, including redemption tickets, on Gulf Air flights for travel starting from 10 May until 10 November 2021 are automatically covered with COVID-19 insurance at no extra cost, said Bahrain’s national carrier. Some restrictions may apply and passengers can visit the airline website for more information.
According to the newly-announced insurance policy, all passengers diagnosed with COVID-19 while traveling abroad will be covered for repatriation assistance, medical and hospitals costs abroad as well as quarantine accommodation costs. Coverage is applicable on Gulf Air-operated flights with the airline ticket numbers that are purchased through its website, call centre, sales offices or travel agents.
UAE: Cigna offers health insurance solutions for businesses and government entities
Cigna Insurance Middle East has launched its new region-specific health insurance offering called ‘SmartCare by Cigna’ for SMEs, corporates and government organisations within the UAE.
Cigna’s recent COVID-19 survey discovered that 68% of employees suffer from work-related stress. The study also revealed that there is a continuing gap between employee expectations from their health cover and what is offered to them in the workplace. Health and wellbeing remain a priority for employees with 74% seeking enhanced health cover but only 28% actually receiving it.
Such insights, along with insights from some of the UAE’s leading health insurance advisers, went into developing SmartCare. Providing flexible plans using a unique open access network, high annualised maximums and a wide-ranging health cover that includes chronic and pre-existing conditions, regular health check-ups and pandemic coverage, SmartCare brings to a cluttered insurance market much-needed clarity and a refreshing promise to make healthcare affordable and accessible, said Cigna.
The new product provides members access to care across a wide list of network providers and is supplemented with services such as employee assistance programmes, telehealth, clinical care for critical illness, pandemic inclusions and mental health solutions.
The product offers unique solutions such as the introduction of a differentiated open-access network that allows members direct billing access to any UAE network provider, subject to a tier specific coinsurance.
In addition, the product leverages digital tools such as HealthHub Suite, an integrated health solutions platform, that uses digital technology to simplify access to healthcare, including enabling members to book an appointment with leading healthcare providers in the UAE via a mobile application and the Cigna Body & Mind App.
Cigna CEO for MEA and SEA Jerome Droesch said, “As part of our ongoing market research prior to and during the pandemic in 2020 to understand customer needs, we realised that affordable healthcare solutions with service excellence attached still remain elusive and are much in demand. We also understood that tweaking existing solutions will not address this gap or support businesses as they learn to cope with ever changing market demands. Cigna is keen to ensure we plug this market gap and hope to empower employers and employees as part of our long-term strategy with SmartCare by Cigna.” M