MediCard Philippines, Inc. mantiene una postura optimista sobre sus perspectivas de crecimiento a medida que la demanda de cobertura médica sigue aumentando, con la compañía apostando por una diversificación sostenida de productos y la digitalización para captar un mercado en expansión. Filipinas ha enfrentado durante mucho tiempo un alto gasto de bolsillo en salud en comparación con sus vecinos del Sudeste Asiático, y las organizaciones privadas de mantenimiento de la salud (HMO), como MediCard, se han posicionado para atender al segmento de la población cuyas necesidades van más allá de lo que ofrece el programa de cobertura universal del gobierno, PhilHealth.

"How many people in the Philippines have healthcare coverage today? How many people in the Philippines need healthcare coverage? If you take a cycle looking out three to five years, I've got to believe that growth in the Philippines market in healthcare is going to continue, but also in the insurance segment more broadly," dijo a periodistas el director ejecutivo de MediCard, Julian Mengual, al margen de un evento el miércoles.

En referencia al 2025 Rethink Health Study de su empresa matriz, AIA Philippines Life and General Insurance Co., Inc., el Sr. Mengual dijo que MediCard busca capitalizar la fuerte demanda de soluciones de salud a medida que los gastos médicos de bolsillo entre los filipinos continúan aumentando.

"If you are spending more than 40% on healthcare, there's a need for solutions. And we know a lot of diseases could be managed if they were prevented and caught early. We can do this stuff. That's why I'm bullish," afirmó.

"Now what the trick is going to be is helping people who are non-purchasers of healthcare become purchasers. And the challenge that we need to address is making sure healthcare is affordable, making sure the solutions we provide are relevant, and they bring all the parts that we can bring together to help customers meet their needs."

MediCard se prepara para lanzar productos de seguros integrados este año, posiblemente a través de múltiples alianzas, reveló el Sr. Mengual.

"We've identified what we think are areas where there's an unmet need, and we've identified partners we believe would be well-suited in that space to support us, and now we're starting to put together propositions and engage," dijo.

"So, the timelines will very much then depend on partners and their willingness to take these solutions and their appetite and their timing, but we already see two or three spaces where we see significant opportunity."

La compañía también planea ampliar su oferta de productos tanto para clientes corporativos como para consumidores minoristas.

"I see that we will continue to build out relevant propositions for individuals that could be purchased directly or could be purchased with partners and could be embedded in partner solutions. That's one part, but I see this as the first steps in building out future propositions together for corporates that go beyond this as well."

En el frente tecnológico, MediCard mantendrá sus inversiones en insurtech para mejorar la prestación de servicios y la distribución, con un enfoque particular en tecnologías emergentes como la inteligencia artificial (AI) agéntica. Las aseguradoras en Filipinas han adoptado gradualmente herramientas digitales para llegar a una base de clientes más amplia, un esfuerzo que la Insurance Commission ha alentado como medio para mejorar la accesibilidad y la eficiencia en todo el sector.

"I think insurtech broadly helps us do things differently. We've invested significantly in AI over this period. I think of AI as the next extension, especially agentic AI, but also, I think the digitalization and making things frictionless and the smooth experience are all areas where insurtech will play a role," dijo el Sr. Mengual.

MediCard también prevé una demanda sostenida para su plan de salud recientemente presentado, dirigido a trabajadores de la economía gig y a otras personas que no cuentan con beneficios corporativos regulares. El segmento de la economía gig ha crecido en Filipinas a medida que más trabajadores asumen funciones freelance, basadas en plataformas y por contrato, que normalmente no incluyen cobertura médica patrocinada por el empleador. Se espera que la demanda de MediCard H.E.R.O. (Health Emergency Response On-Demand) sea impulsada por su canal de agencias, que ha registrado un crecimiento "significativo" desde el lanzamiento del producto el mes pasado, según el Sr. Mengual.

"Actually, where we think it will start to expand quite significantly now is that we're seeing in our agency channel that this is a product that they would like to prioritize to make available to members, and the reason being the pricing is very affordable… It also gives very good care," dijo.

"So we expect to see this grow over the rest of the year in our alternative channels that we have. Originally, it started as something we soft launched on our direct channels, particularly Facebook, and now it's something that's being offered through our AI agents, et cetera. So we expect to see improved trends in this."

La utilidad neta de MediCard cayó 75.39% interanual a P39.28 millones en el primer trimestre, desde P159.66 millones, según datos de la Insurance Commission. — Aaron Michael C. Sy