Be more financially prepared for health emergencies
The latest Manulife Asia Care Survey indicates that young Filipinos are growing increasingly aware of their health span—that is, the amount of time they will have excellent health. While the average Filipino respondent believes that they will be healthy until they are about 62 years old, younger millennials (those born between 1989 and 1996) believe that they won’t be at their best until they are 55 years old.
Because of the pandemic’s unprecedented effects, particularly on people’s health and financial situations, Filipino millennials and Gen Zs are now worried about their financial stability. They came to the realization that, given the following worries, they needed to start investing in life and health insurance or find other ways to increase their savings:
1. Their critical illness risk. Genetics, the environment, the stresses of modern living, and even binge-eating and endless feasts brought by the holidays, may conspire to put everyone at risk for various critical illnesses. Even Gen Z and millennials find that their relatively young age does not guarantee protection. For Filipinos, coronary heart diseases, tumors, and cerebrovascular conditions are the top health and mortality risks, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
2. Their poverty risk. Medical treatments remain costly, and they can be challenging even for the otherwise comfortable middle class. This financial burden is a significant concern for many Filipinos, with almost half or 45% of the national health expense coming from out-of-pocket payments. At least 1.5 million Filipino families are pushed to the poverty line every year due to unexpected health expenses, according to the Insurance Commission.
3. Weakened social safety nets due to economic uncertainties. Most Filipinos rely on health maintenance organization (HMO) plans and government-subsidized health insurance programs for their protection. However, with economic uncertainties causing medical inflation to soar to as high as 12-13%, Filipinos need more resources to cover the rising costs of hospital and medical treatments.
While they realize the importance of bolstering one’s health protection, some millennials and Gen Zs – many of whom are just starting their careers, shifting priorities, or changing life journeys – may feel held back by their limited income.
To address this gap and help make it easier for young Filipinos to boost their health and life protection, Manulife offers HealthFlex and FutureBoost.
HealthFlex, an innovative and flexible life and health insurance plan that protects against up to 112 critical illnesses and guarantees health coverage until age 100. Furthermore, if diagnosed with one of these covered critical illnesses, premiums are automatically waived, allowing them to focus on recovery instead of worrying about their medical bills. They can also customize their plans by adding coverage benefits for early-stage illnesses, second occurrences of cancer, heart attack, or stroke, and hospitalization and recovery assistance.
In the meantime, FutureBoost is a comprehensive plan that combines savings, health, and life insurance. It provides coverage against critical illness up to ten times the face value of the plan, or Php 15 million, and gives access to a variety of investment funds so that Filipinos can increase their savings and enhance their coverage at any time through various add-on benefits like hospital income benefit, which can assist them in covering hospital costs while safeguarding their savings. Young Filipinos can receive early protection from serious illnesses with FutureBoost while they save and get ready for their future.
Manulife aims to create creative ways to make insurance more accessible so that consumers may customize their health coverage and financially safeguard themselves and those they love most. This is because more Filipinos are looking for insurance solutions but are having trouble with budgetary restrictions.
Go to manulife.com.ph to find out more about Manulife’s health and life insurance offerings.
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