Azerbaijan, Baku, July 22 / Trend, A.Akhundov /
At present, only 0.75 percent of the Azerbaijani population has a policy of voluntary health insurance (VHI), according to results of studies on the VHI local market conducted by the Azerbaijani Insurers' Association.
"It means availability of a great potential growth of voluntary health insurance market," AIA executive director Azer Aliyev told Trend.
He said health insurance in Azerbaijan is one of the fastest growing sectors of insurance, and the volume of premiums in this sector has grown by 21 percent over the last two years.
According to the State Insurance Supervision Service under the Finance Ministry, Azerbaijani insurance companies collected premiums worth 17.069 million manat (17.37 percent of total fees) on voluntary health insurance within six months, and paid compensation in the amount of 9.282 million manat (34.7 percent of total payments).
"VHI is the most unprofitable and costly insurance type in Azerbaijan. When collecting premiums at 15 percent of the total insurance incomes of the market, insurance payments on voluntary health insurance account for 31 percent of total insurance payments in the market," Aliyev said.
He said along with high level of unprofitability on the VHI annual increase in this index is also observed.
"Every year, an increase is observed in average insurance payments per insured person, as a result of which in last two years, insurance payments on VHI grew half, that is from 11.1 million manat to 16.8 million manat," Aliyev said.
He said the main reasons for the growth of insurance payments are price rise in medical services and medicines, technological advances in Azerbaijani medicine (the introduction of modern equipment, new methods of diagnosis and treatment), as well as misuse of VHI programs by physicians and the insured persons.
"A significant part of insurance payments account for the costs on outpatient treatment (more than 75 percent)," Aliyev said.
The AIA analyzed the market based on statistical data provided by insurance companies and the State Insurance Supervision Service under the Finance Ministry. Information obtained as a result of the studies, covers the interests of 15 out of 28 insurance companies operating in Azerbaijan, which are directly involved in the voluntary health insurance, as well as health care institutions and the insured peoples. Recommendations were prepared and submitted to these companies based on this analysis.
There are 28 insurance and a reinsurance company in Azerbaijan.
The official exchange rate is 0.7865 manat to $1 on July 22.