Health insurance market on the move again

Argentina's health insurance market is beginning to move again due to an improving economy and demand for new insurance coverage, Argentine financial daily Cronista quoted local executives as saying. Following the detrimental impact of Argentina's economic crisis on the quality of the country's public healthcare system, some insurance companies, such as Mapfre, are betting on insurance products against expensive healthcare services, such as surgical operations. "We estimate that this year the market will begin to move and this product will cease to be a marginal product within insurance. With a collapsed traditional health system, our objective is to cover catastrophic expenses, which surgical operations represent," Mapfre general manager Luis Baron was quoted as saying. Mapfre expects 1mn pesos (today US$356, 000) in billing this year from that product, Baron said. In terms of clients taking the product, the company's goal this year to is close 2003 with 10,000 individual and 30,000 collective clients, he added. The Spanish insurer is selling the insurance product through local brokers as well as Argentine mortgage giant Banco Hipotecario. Another insurer, Sancor Seguros, has launched a similar product and expects billing to reach 5mn pesos this year, corporate business manager Juan Carlos Yost was quoted as saying.