The volume of health insurance premiums in Armenia increased by 28.1% in 2017

ArmInfo. The volume of premiums for health insurance in Armenia increased by 28.1% in 2010 to 7.1 billion drams ($ 14.7 million), and compensation - by 17.8% to 4.03 billion drams ($ 8.3 million). According to the Analytical Ranking of Insurance Companies of Armenia prepared by IC ArmInfo, compared with the previous year, the growth rates of the medical insurance market have significantly increased due to the introduction of the first phase of compulsory medical insurance (OMC) for civil servants since October 2017.

As a result, in the overall structure of premiums, the share of medical insurance increased from 16.82% to 20.29% in 2017, while in the structure of compensation, on the contrary, it decreased from 24.02% to 22.66%, which was caused by a significant increase in total volume (24.9%) against a background of a moderate increase in the total volume of premiums (6.2%). It is noteworthy that the premiums listed for reinsurance in the class of medical insurance also increased sharply, reaching 232.8 million drams by the end of the reporting year.

According to the analyst, according to the class of medical insurance, INGO Armenia maintains the leading position in the market, providing on January 1, 2018 insurance premiums in the amount of 2.3 billion drams and reimbursements of 1.3 billion drams, with an annual growth of these indicators by 32.2 % and 18.5%.  Rosgosstrakh Armenia Insurance Company ranked second with insurance premiums of 1.9 billion rubles and reimbursements of 1.2 billion drams. TOP-3 insurance premiums of this class are closed by "Nairi Insurance" - 1.3 bln AMD, and on reimbursements - "Sil Insurance" - 713.8 mln AMD. The fourth position on insurance premiums is held by IC "Sil Insurance" - 995.8 million drams, and on reimbursements of SC "Nairi Insurance" - 468.5 million drams. The fifth and sixth positions were SC RESO and Insurance Armenia Insurance Company: insurance premiums - respectively, 327 million and 182.5 million drams, reimbursements - respectively 173 million and 97.7 million drams. Insurance premiums were increased by all six companies in 2017, with the closing list of RESO and Armenia Insurance having the largest and the same growth rate 2.2 times, while RESO is also leading in terms of the growth rate of compensation (2.2 times ). For reimbursements, the annual decline was recorded for two companies - Nairi Insurance and Sil Insurance - 8.3-10.1%, with the latter having a minimal premium growth of only 3%.  The sharp increase in health insurance indicators was due to the launch in October 2017 of the process of introducing CMI, namely, its first stage - the beneficiaries of the first stage of the social package were civil servants, which number about 100 thousand. It is noteworthy that for the IV quarter of every third holder of the social package of civil servants managed to use medical services, including operable cases. At the first stage, taking into account the status of beneficiaries, the financing of the package is carried out by the Ministry of Health at the expense of state funds. From the second half of 2018 the social package will cover another category of citizens - the most unsecured segments of the population - 612 thousand people.  Presumably, the full implementation of CHI in Armenia will begin in 2019.

According to forecasts of insurance experts, the loss ratio for medical insurance is expected at 90%, which is considered a normal indicator at the first stages of the introduction of the social package. Each year this level will fluctuate slightly, and with the full-scale introduction of CMI there will be stabilization on a specific bar and gradual reduction to an optimal 80-85%, experts of the market believe. They believe that it is quite realistic to form in 2-3 years an economically effective risk model of CHI. In their opinion, the OMC model introduced in Armenia, primarily for policyholders, is designed to ensure not only the best quality of loss regulation, but also the optimality of tariffs.