Insular Life has announced that it made a significant investment in Maria Health, the only health insurance marketplace in the Philippines. This new business deal will earn InLife a seat on the board of the rising technology company that provides Filipino SMEs and individuals with various insurance health options that would best suit their needs.
“InLife and Maria Health share the same advocacy — that of financial inclusion. Our investment is very timely as we mark our 111th anniversary in the business and move forward to meet the needs of our customers through innovation. With InLife’s stake in Maria Health, we are also spurring our digital adoption as we transform into an internet economy,” according to Noemi Azura, President and CEO of Insular Health Care.
This is not the first time that the two companies have worked together. InLife, through its InLife Sheroes, initially partnered with Maria Health back in 2018. In the following year, InLife Healthcare premiered with Maria Health.
Both companies have a largely female clientele with 10% of Maria Health’s first-time coverage buyers (which comprises 90% of its customers) being families of OFWs, 75% of which are women.
“Health, now more than ever, has become a top priority, and there has been an increased awareness and interest in insurance. As we empower Filipino women toward financial literacy, we also provide them the means to choose what’s best for them,” Ms. Azura added.
Ms. Azura pointed out that with the two companies working together, they can better address the insurance gap in the Philippines, and serve Filipinos.
Maria Health was founded in 2017 by Vincent Lau and Paul Rivera to address the underinsurance gap in the Philippines. During that time, only 5% of 100 million Filipinos had access to a health insurance plan, resulting in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses reaching a massive US$25B. The company currently holds a license as an insurance aggregator in the Philippines.
Lau, the CEO of Maria Health, has over 10 years of experience in consulting for Fortune 500 companies and startup companies in Silicon Valley. Rivera, Director of Maria Health, is the CEO and co-founder of Kalibrr and also the co-founder of Remedy, a wellness company in the Philippines, and was recently named a World Economic Forum Young Leader in 2021.
“The key to starting a business is always talking to customers. So, it was only after digging into this problem more and talking to hundreds of customers that we realized that people are underinsured not because they don’t want health insurance, but because they didn’t know where to start and didn’t have access to information. That’s when we decided to move health insurance online,” Lau said.
The second milestone, according to Lau, happened when it became clear to them that while there was a demand problem, there was no platform that connected those looking for health insurance and those who were providing it. When Maria Health launched, it was able to seal a partnership with five (05) of the biggest health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in the Philippines, which represent 80% of the market.