Poor public perception about insurance, a concern

Kenyans now have the chance of influencing contents of the insurance policy after the national treasury invited the public to forward their views to pstreasury01@gmail.com.

The National Treasury is offering Kenyans up to Friday this week to submit their proposals on the draft insurance regulation policy.

Among proposals in the draft document is creation of covers for emerging issues such as climate change and pandemics.

Insurance penetration in Kenya currently at 2.34% is way below the global average of 7.23%.

The government is in the process of reviewing existing legal and regulatory framework geared towards increasing insurance uptake by creating an enabling environment to support development of new insurance products and distribution channels.

National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Ukur Yatani says: “The National Insurance Policy aims at addressing challenges that continue to hinder the development of the industry.

These include; low level of public awareness on insurance products; low penetration rate; concentration of insurance in main urban areas; slow adoption of technology by the industry; limited underwriting capacity of the insurance industry; gaps in the legal and regulatory framework and poor perception about the insurance industry.”

If the draft insurance policy takes effect, underwriters would be required to come up with covers for emerging risks such as extreme events, cyber-crime, pandemics, changes in policy and Universal Health Coverage.

The draft policy calls for the widening of social insurance programmes to mitigate risks by providing income support in the event of illness, disability, work injury, maternity, unemployment, old age, and death.

The draft policy also seeks to expedite payment of claims to enhance public confidence in insurance, accountability in insurance companies, weeding out fraudulent insurance agents and protecting policy holders from exploitation.

You have until this Friday to email your views via pstreasury01@gmail.com.

 

 

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