Airtel Nigeria Partners AXA Mansard to makes Health Insurance Available via USSD
Airtel one of Nigeria’s telecommunication company has announced a partnership with AXA Mansard, a leading healthcare service provider, to launch a new service that gives access to health insurance through their mobile phones for Nigerian users.
The partnership will allow Nigerian Airtel users affordable health insurance plans from AXA Mansard by dialing the shortcode *987*7#.
The AXA Mansard Health plans include malaria cover, inpatient, outpatient, specialist medical consultations, immunizations, family planning, ambulance services, dental care, etc with access to over 1,000 hospitals nationwide for healthcare services, the telecoms company said in a press statement.
Muyiwa Ebitanmi, Head of Mobile Financial Services at Airtel Nigeria speaking on the partnership said that the service is aimed to provide easy access to healthcare for all Nigerians by leveraging on the USSD channel, removing the many barriers.
“With this initiative, we are not just delivering bespoke health insurance services to the doorstep of more people, we are also leading a quiet revolution that will drive and deepen health insurance inclusion.
“This will be achieved by removing the many barriers that have hitherto excluded many well-meaning Nigerians from participating in the sector”.
Some of the challenges that hinder the private uptake of health insurance schemes are a low level of awareness, affordability, ineffective distribution systems, and inefficient payment models.
Egbai, Head of Emerging Customers and Digital Partnerships Group at AXA Mansard also added that the goal is to remove these challenges mitigating Nigerians from taking up health insurance.
“To mitigate these challenges and satisfy the health needs of the retail consumer whilst also encouraging the uptake of health insurance in the country, we have partnered with Airtel Nigeria to provide a solution that gives users a convenient way to purchase and manage their AXA Mansard micro-insurance plans” noted Alfred.