Liberty launch hospital cash back plan with BOMaid
Liberty has partnered with BOMaid to launch an innovative health product- Hospital Cash Back Plan- whilst building on its plans to grow penetration in the Botswana insurance market. The Hospital Cash Back Plan is a new product underwritten by Liberty Life Botswana.
Under this product, BOMaid takes care of the doctor and hospital bills while the new hospital cash back plan will cover the member’s bills related to the hospital stay. Speaking at the unveiling of the product on Wednesday, Lulu Rasebotsa, Managing Director of Liberty Life Botswana, explained that being away from loved ones due to hospitalisation can be an emotional time that brings extra financial burden to the customer and their family. As a result, she indicated that, “This new product is designed to give our customers peace of mind knowing that in the event of hospitalisation, the hospital cash back plan will provide them with money to cover day-to-day expenses such as transportation, groceries, bills and any shortfall in income.”
Furthermore, the product pays for each day the customer is in hospital and the lump sum is not linked to their hospital stay cost or actual hospital expenses. The hospital cash back plan is applicable in both Botswana and South Africa. Elaborating further, Raseboba revealed that this partnership with BOMaid started in 2012 and has seen Liberty offer various innovative and relevant products to members. “We are thrilled to be associated with a company of BOMaid’s stature, given the brand strength, capabilities and increasing traction in Botswana.
We are optimistic about offering a strong customer value proposition to their members,” she expressed. In 2013 about 170 483 people were admitted in hospital on average for seven days stay and of those admissions, 6091 (3, 5 percent) unfortunately died. The partnership also introduced three additional products to help protect families against unexpected expenses when faced with the loss of a loved one: Funeral Plan, Top-Up Funeral Plan and Premium Waiver. Explaining one of the above three additional product benefits, Dr Lorato Mangadi, Fund Administrator at SouthView, highlighted that with the Premium Waiver plan benefit, should the principal member die, the insured family members will enjoy the benefit for 12 months more at no cost.
Under the Funeral Benefit Top-Up, Mangadi said, “We saw the need to give members flexibility to top-up their basic cover and improve it to either P20 000 or P25 000 for member/spouse/parent.” The scheme now gives members two options of additional cover, that is; P10 000 at an additional premium of P38 of family but excluding parents; P15 000 at an additional P54 of family excluding parents. As for parents dependants P10 000 cover requires an additional P35 and for P15 000 cover requires an additional P50. Raseboba indicated that their product design is part of Liberty’s refreshed 2020 strategy to focus on customer centricity that will drive execution of the company’s vision to become the trusted leader in insurance and investments in Africa and other chosen markets.
“With a 3.2 percent insurance penetration rate in Botswana, we recognise the opportunity to grow the market by developing differentiated products that are innovative, relevant and simple to understand. We are here to change realities and make financial freedom possible,” she concluded.
