AAR: We want to do more than medical insurance in Uganda
AAR is investing in Uganda to diversify into other insurance products under general insurance, such as motor third party and mining insurance. Photo / File
What you need to know:
- AAR says after being granted a license, they will focus on key sectors for insurance underwriting, such as mining and motor third party insurance.
Medical insurer, AAR last year started a process to establish a general insurance company in Uganda. AAR chief executive, Justine Kosgei, says after being granted a license, they will focus on key sectors for insurance underwriting, such as mining and motor third party insurance.
Last year, AAR started a general insurance company in Uganda. What are you targeting in that market?
We already have operations in Uganda, so it was about making it a fully-fledged general insurance. Based on the growth we have seen in Kenya and the profits we have generated, we decided to inject additional capital in Uganda operations and make it a fully-fledged general insurer.
Last year, we injected Shs8.85b into the group, and part of that was for Uganda operations. We want the Uganda unit to do other general insurance business apart from health.
The process is 90 percent done. Our goal is to get the license and commence business by July. I think we are on track. The operations will help us provide insurance that is seamless across East Africa by sharing our technology platforms for operations in Kenya and Uganda.
Car insurance is big in Uganda, and it is an area that we would like to do and play in other forms of general insurance. For example, there is mining that is coming up in Uganda, and companies are starting to work as consortia. We believe we can be part of this moment of transformation.
The Uganda operations will also help us in our journey to setting up in the DR Congo. We have been having conversations on how we can enter this big market.
Insurers are increasingly turning to technology such as AI to streamline claims management. How far is AAR on this front?
Our goal is to make sure that people can access healthcare very fast, so we have tapped into AI to make this journey as seamless as possible.
We realised that one of the ways to streamline the claims management process is to reduce human intervention.
We have limited human interventions for special considerations, such as pre-approvals. We are seeing fewer complaints, mainly when there is a system downtime. We have simplified our covers to clearly state the exclusions so that customers can understand what they are buying.
Technology has also helped us to come up with low-cost products that the majority of the population, especially small businesses and individuals in the informal sector, can relate to.
We have SME products that have covered thousands of small businesses, ensuring that risks such as burglary, fire, flood, or sickness to key persons do not bring down their operations.
AAR chief executive Justine Kosgei
Talking about AI, what are some of the specific tasks that you have entrusted AI with, and where does this leave your human staff?
We started this journey about three years ago and we keep evolving. Mainly, we have automated the area of claims management.
From the time when claims come from hospital, the hospitals can interact with us directly using a digital platform.
When customers are accessing the cover, the system is able to compare their claims with what is in the policy we signed with them and the agreements with medical providers to ensure the right claims are quickly paid. This speeds up payments and also increases accuracy.
The analytics built in the systems give us feedback on areas of improvement.
By freeing the time of dealing with payments, this creates time for our staff to concentrate more on non-routine tasks and building relationships with service providers.
Insurance sector has been accused of a one-size-fits-all approach when designing and pricing its products. What has been the place of AI in shifting from this approach?
Because of the granular data that AI is providing us with, we are able to refine our products. This way, we can customise solutions for individuals and organisations.
Technology allows us to create affordable solutions. We are shifting from providing blanket solutions to providing customised solutions depending on what customers want.
Most of our growth is now coming from such initiatives of customization, through which we have also tapped into clients that have never considered health insurance.
Such clients had been put off by blanket solutions that were often two to three times their budget. By customising products, we can speak the language that they understand.
At an individual level, we have designed products that are customised based on one’s location, risk profile, and the kind of cover they want. That allows for a mix of inpatient and outpatient coverage limits that are aligned with customer needs.
We have covered a lot of ground, but it feels like it is just the beginning. We feel like there is so much more because AI is evolving so fast. With time, we should be able to do so much more with this technology.
