Meet Ruth. She is a 26-year-old Nigerian girl and the proprietor of a mini pharmacy in Ilesha city in southwestern Nigeria.
Ruth, like many different Nigerian ladies, is especially weak to well being dangers and faces gender-specific challenges associated to maternity. In accordance with the newest Findex, sixty-two % of Nigerian ladies report being “very anxious” about not with the ability to pay for medical prices in case of a severe sickness or an accident1. Ruth herself mentioned that she felt “not assured in any respect” about paying medical bills.
However in 2023, Ruth acquired a mortgage from First Metropolis Monument Financial institution (FCMB) in Nigeria in Nigeria and enrolled of their medical health insurance product, FCMBeta Well being–her first expertise with insurance coverage. Later, when she gave start to her first baby in a hospital, she felt relaxed realizing that she would obtain a profit to assist cowl the process and keep. Due to the insurance coverage product, she acquired the equal of 80% of her common month-to-month revenue, which she used to pay her mortgage instalments and purchase varied mandatory items. Due to FCMBeta Well being, she now feels “very assured” that she is going to be capable to cowl future medical bills.
The answer: insurance coverage that facilities ladies’s wants
Microinsurance affords a strong answer to assist low-income ladies when they’re hospitalized. Nevertheless, the trail to widespread insurance coverage adoption faces important boundaries. Nigeria, regardless of being one of many largest economies in Africa, has an insurance coverage penetration fee of solely 0.5%.
Microinsurance affords a strong answer to assist low-income ladies when they’re hospitalized. Nevertheless, the trail to widespread insurance coverage adoption faces important boundaries. Nigeria, regardless of being one of many largest economies in Africa, has an insurance coverage penetration fee of solely 0.5%.
In response to this problem, Ladies’s World Banking partnered with FCMB, Hygeia HMO, and Swiss Re Basis to develop the FCMBeta Well being answer, a women-focused medical health insurance product in Nigeria. The mission acquired funding assist from Swiss Re Basis and the Monetary Inclusion Fund, initiated and funded by the Authorities of Luxembourg and managed by the European Funding Financial institution. The FCMBeta Well being answer goals to scale back the monetary pressure ladies face throughout hospitalization and is bundled with FCMB’s E-Don Beta mortgage, a bunch microlending product. For simply 0.1 USD (N150) per week, which represents lower than 1% of the typical weekly revenue in Nigeria, the product supplies a hard and fast profit per evening of hospitalization, a childbirth profit, and protection for the consumer, her partner, and youngsters.
Since its launch in 2023, the product has already offered protection to over 90,000 prospects, together with ladies and their households. All through the mission, Ladies’s World Banking carried out two in-depth analysis actions with 60 FCMB’s low-income ladies prospects to raised perceive their wants for hospital money insurance coverage and their degree of belief in insurance coverage and offered suggestions to extend belief.
Our analysis uncovered key insights into how ladies prospects view hospital money insurance coverage—and the way we will strengthen their belief in it. Right here’s what we discovered.
What we discovered: buyer insights
A overwhelming majority of girls acknowledge the necessity for hospital money insurance coverage options
90% of girls individuals within the buyer analysis expressed a necessity for hospital money insurance coverage, because it helps them deal with each the direct and oblique prices of hospitalization.
“Financially, [if you are hospitalized] it is not going to be a burden to you. They’ve eliminated some burden away from you.” (Feminine buyer, Ikwerre)
The monetary burden of hospitalization, particularly amongst low-income households, usually forces ladies to delay in search of care or return to work prematurely. Hospital money options, which function revenue alternative instruments, may alleviate this strain and supply ladies with the time they should get well.
“With this product, our prospects will not be afraid to go to hospitals anymore.” (Amos Ikubese, Regional Gross sales Supervisor, Abuja/North, FCMB)
Insurance coverage is a strong device for sustaining financial savings, significantly throughout maternity. Maternity-related prices are a major concern for girls, and, as one respondent defined, the provision of an insurance coverage product with a childbirth profit would assist ladies keep away from depleting their financial savings throughout childbirth—an expense that many ladies save for particularly.
Creating hospital money options additionally affords an inexpensive assist to ladies prospects. Most buyer analysis individuals perceived the weekly premium of USD 0.10, embedded in weekly mortgage funds, as inexpensive.
Though they perceive how the insurance coverage profit may assist them, some ladies stay skeptical about receiving it even when they’re hospitalized or giving start.
Our analysis discovered that 44% of girls individuals didn’t imagine they’ll obtain a profit from insurance coverage on the time of enrolment. Even amongst those that acquired payouts, some had been initially stunned.
“After I gave start, the promise they made, they fulfilled it, I didn’t even imagine it earlier than that they may give to individuals, however when it occurred to me, they gave me cash.” (Feminine buyer, Ilesha)
The first causes for mistrust had been adverse previous experiences with insurance coverage, both private or involving members of the family, and issues about hidden exclusions.
How one can construct belief in women-centric medical health insurance
To strengthen belief in women-centric medical health insurance, our expertise in Nigeria suggests the next key methods:
- Bundle insurance coverage with a product that ladies belief. Given the final lack of belief in insurance coverage firms, ladies usually tend to contemplate buying insurance coverage whether it is bundled with a monetary product they already belief and worth. Ladies’s World Banking recommends conducting each quantitative and qualitative analysis to establish monetary providers which are already trusted by the audience.
- Begin with a easy and inexpensive possibility. When supplied three insurance coverage—particular person cowl (₦150/week), household cowl (₦350/week) and a malaria top-up (₦100/week)—95% of purchasers selected the essential particular person plan. The added complexity of presenting a number of choices proved burdensome for mortgage officers, and most prospects most popular to begin with a easy, low-cost possibility to check its worth. In 2024, the workforce simplified the providing: all prospects acquired a single insurance coverage plan at ₦150/week. Whereas this raised issues about equity, primarily that particular person purchasers would pay extra per individual in comparison with a household plan, pilot information confirmed that even prospects with households not often opted to cowl them. The flat-rate strategy prioritized higher outreach and ease of implementation whereas sustaining the identical blended premium fee as the unique pilot. This simplification additionally allowed FCMB to embed the premium immediately into mortgage instalments.
- Improve the insurance coverage information of the gross sales power to construct belief. The product is offered by mortgage officers, lots of whom had been introducing insurance coverage for the primary time. If these mortgage officers lacked belief in insurance coverage themselves, they’d battle to confidently promote the product to their purchasers. To handle this, Ladies’s World Banking offered common insurance coverage coaching for mortgage officers, alongside discipline visits to make sure they totally perceive the product’s advantages, are outfitted to pitch it successfully, and may deal with buyer issues. Providing the product to the mortgage officers themselves, permitting them to expertise it firsthand and construct their very own confidence in its worth, may also construct belief.
- Publicize claims. By showcasing claims, insurers can reveal the tangible advantages of getting insurance coverage protection. Ladies prospects can see real-life examples of how the insurance coverage helped different ladies, having a direct impact on the belief they’ve within the product. One strategy to publicize claims may be organizing public claims disbursement occasions the place the insurer broadcasts and distributes declare funds to policyholders throughout public gatherings, highlighting the monetary assist offered by means of the insurance coverage answer.
Ladies’s World Banking will proceed to assist FCMB, Hygeia HMO and Swiss Re to extend uptake and utilization of the hospital money answer amongst low-income ladies in Nigeria. With continued efforts, FCMBeta Well being goals to supply insurance coverage cowl to 150,000 low-income Nigerians- together with ladies prospects and their households by December 2025, serving to them construct resilience within the face of health-related monetary shocks.
Though this answer affords essential monetary assist to FCMB prospects, the wants for women-centric insurance coverage throughout Africa stay immense. Collective efforts of monetary service suppliers, funders, and improvement organizations are required to create insurance coverage options that ladies can belief.
