Provide health insurance in a privileged way

Company News of Wednesday, July 10, 2019

Source: Myjoyonline.com

2019-07-10

For many, the concern was to find a cure for their disease, but the ambition of Premier Health Insurance, a private health insurance company in Ghana, was to find a cure for the problems that undermined the health care system. health of the country.

Cash and carry had long gone, but the alternative came with its own migraine.

A reliable, quality and affordable health care benefit was a great desire, a promise that few could give and much less could hold, but Premier Health Insurance made that promise and dared to stand.

In April 2011, when Percy Asare-Ansah, CEO of Premier Health Insurance, had envisioned the creation of health insurance, it was like a dream, a distant vision too difficult but not impossible to achieve.

About seven private health insurance companies were already on the market. Joining the queue and making an impact would always be difficult.

The administration of a private health insurance scheme is also a capital-intensive enterprise. Of the many badets and qualities that Mr. Ansah possessed to manage an effective system, capital was not one of the strengths and qualities that he possessed. There was nothing Yet, capital was essential for everything. The software alone required to effectively manage a health insurance system was exorbitantly expensive, so the software and hardware needed to set up a similar health insurance company were purchased at the same time. , $ 5 million.

Not to mention the cost of offices to operate, a car, even rudimentary, the management of operations or the money needed to pay wages while struggling to set up a health insurance system. The chances were overwhelming and they were all against Mr. Ansah. He and his team had nothing but pbadion and know-how, but when these two powerful forces are combined positively and with God, anything is possible. Trained at the University of Hull (UK) and Cape Coast University, Mr. Ansah had unparalleled knowledge of the health insurance industry. It was a colossus who was waiting for the opportunity to explode. And when the opportunity has come, he has not failed to seize it.

This call

God does not give visions to people without giving them the seedlings to bear fruit. He gave the vision to Mr. Ansah and a young plant but the circumstances were quite interesting. He received a call from his former boss, who then gave him a starting capital of 100,000 ¢ to create his own health insurance company. Mr Ansah had been poached by Momentum, now the country's metropolitan health insurance company, and a few months after poaching, Momentum had become the most viable competitor of the country's health insurance.

His work ethic was admirable. His knowledge of the profession was incomparable and his love for God quite adorable. Like a magnet, he attracted customers to his new employers and it was a clash between Momentum and Nationwide. Mr. Harold Awuah Darko's call to Mr. Ansah and the seed capital to launch Premier Health Insurance was a master stroke. It was a gesture like "compete with me, not against me" and Mr. Ansahgrab applies it with both hands. It was the opportunity he needed to realize that dream, this vision of starting his own business. In 2011, 100,000 ¢ were quite heavy, but it was still a drop in the ocean of investments needed to create a health insurance company.

For a pbadionate man, captivated by a burning desire to make affordable, reliable and quality health care a reality rather than a slogan, it was all he needed to create a great foundation for 'Health Insurance. He never borrowed or took out a loan afterwards. Since then, it has been a difficult job, a strategy and the providence of God.

The Excel sheet

100,000 ¢ could not pay for insurance software, but an Excel spreadsheet with special attention to detail. This worksheet would record each client's name, biographical data, health history and all the vital information needed to treat each client with the necessary insurance. With a small car, a driver, a small office, a marketing manager and an operations manager, Premier Health Insurance was active as of May 1, 2011.

For five months, there was no viable client, but the five employees had to be paid. It was the most difficult period. The commitment to vision has been tested. The days were restless and the nights were sleepless. It was a big fight. But Mr. Ansah was unwavering, even though he was spending months without pay. He did not look back with regrets. After all, he earned a decent salary as Momentum's operations manager. But he waited with pbadion and perseverance. For a sector specializing in drugs, most of which were imported, the fall in the value of the cedi made the health insurance business an expensive adventure. But he did not give up before this big break.

November's account

The Excel sheet was used laboriously for about seven to eight months until the November count was written off. It was a juicy account signed for two years and that changed the fate of Premier Health Insurance. As the Bible says, the vision was still for a fixed time, but in the end he will speak. It will not lie. Mr. Percy Ansahspoke presented the vision of Premier Health Insurance at the time, and at that time this Excel sheet was replaced by the much-needed software.

In eight years and with more than 64,000 customers, Premier is the second largest health insurance company in the country. Premier proudly stands among insurance companies with branches in Greater Accra, Ashanti, East, West, Brong Ahafo and Northern Ghana. He entered the market with a different strategy. While the others were pursuing businesses, Premier remained true to the mbades and, with his "Apomuden Health Plan", every man, every woman employed was a potential customer and constituted more than a single number in the records of the company. Health insurance companies.

It was a risky venture but it was worth it. With a good attitude, sincerity, knowledge of the sector and a decisive factor, Premier Health Insurance is now a pillar in the young industry with many employees, many awards to his credit, the latest being the insurance mark disease of the Year, at the Ghana Pharma Awards ceremony in June2019. Also in May 2019, Mr. Percy Asare Ansah was named Entrepreneur of the Year in Exceptional Health Insurance at the Ghana Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur Awards.

Despite the rewards and cash flow, Ansah believes that delivering decent, quality and affordable care goes well beyond that. In Ghana, the private health insurance sector represents less than 1 percent of Ghana's total population, a depressing situation, according to Ansah. He promised to change this in the coming years by providing at least an increase in the total number of customers to at least 400,000.