Securing Women’s Health and Well-Being

Telehealth, artificial intelligence and wearables are some of the many trends in technology driving huge changes in medical care and in affordable access to quality care. This session shared examples from financial services providers on how they are building comprehensive value propositions for women and their families around this most critical of life’s needs.

Key Points

• – Women around the world are facing challenges with access to healthcare.
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• – The statistics show that women put everyone else before themselves.
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• – The stereotype is that men are more at risk for cardiovascular disease, but in reality women’s levels are just as high. Heart disease is the number one disease among women. The symptoms of heart attacks are different for women than for men. 
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• – AXA found that while they did not exclude a woman’s health condition it often wasn’t properly integrated into the coverage. So now they purposely try not to do that anymore.
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• – FemTech is HealthTech that focuses on women’s health issues and is a fast-growing field. AXA is partnering with FemTech start-ups, including providing VC. Apricity is an example of that, focusing on infertility.
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  • One in 6 couples have problems conceiving a baby. IVF is the best-known solution and has been around for 40 years. Currently services are designed around the constraints of clinics and doctors. Apricity was set up to support the user through their journey and is the world’s first virtual fertility clinic, based in the UK. Their platform meets a couple where they are on the journey, using AI and providing advisors that are there to answer any medical questions.
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  • AXA is an investor in Apricity and offers its employees in the UK up to £15,000 worth of fertility services through Apricity.
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• – BHD León identified four key needs of women: time saving, individual wellbeing, family wellbeing and economic independence. Women think about themselves and their health, but also their children and parents. Women said they needed support with maternity and caring for kids, and in response the bank bundles affordable insurance policies covering these needs.
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  • The package includes health assistance, with 24/7 doctor on call; maternity and pre-natal care; and transportation to and from the clinic, if needed.
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  • This same policy covers spouses and parents. The bank created this product for women – but men also are big buyers of it, so the bank is making much more than its business case projections.
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  • The rate of growth in insurance policies for women is 38 percent per year. The bank’s total premium growth is 10 percent.
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  • Women who hold an insurance policy are 2.3x more profitable than those who don’t have a policy.
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  • Retention of women with insurance is 19 percent higher on an annual basis than for women customers without insurance. So BHD León is able to retain more clients by adding that product.
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• – One in four Nigerian couples have fertility issues. Access Bank’s research showed that while health is important to women, they put themselves last. First because of time constraints and second because of financial constraints. There are a lot of uninsured women, and even when they have access, some are not covered.
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  • Access Bank offers financing for IVF treatment, and if the procedure is unsuccessful, they get 30 percent back from the insurance company. This is part of bundled pricing for clients who come under the W Women’s Market initiative.
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  • Access Bank’s business case is being teased out, but they have attracted new clients and built brand loyalty. They also won business with many health clinics across Nigeria as a result of playing in the health ecosystem.
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  • Access Bank found that the issue of infertility is a social taboo, and so they guarantee confidentiality. A lot of communications work needs to be done to position the solution in the market and encourage couples to come forward.
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• – BRAC Bank has partnered with a health insurance company and offers a digital healthcare service free of cost for 12 months to their TARA (Women’s Market program) customers. They have trained their staff to support their premium buyers to use the insurance package effectively and have found that their portfolio grew 40 percent more due to providing healthcare benefits to women.
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• – BHD León advises that the most important thing is to engage insurance companies early on so they are sensitized to the gender issue. It also helped that there was a woman on the team.
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• • Do the research, and base the offering on the needs. This can take a very long time, but it is worth it.