The pandemic has abruptly brought back the theme of health at the center of priorities, also highlighting some weaknesses in the health system. Despite the diagnostic delays and the discontinuity in adherence to therapy attributable to the health emergency, the greater sensitivity to the issue could lead to greater proactivity of Italians in the field of prevention. For 80% health returns to be the top priority and 1 out of 3 Italians is interested in purchasing health insurance. 2021 will close with private healthcare expenditure of 35 billion, with estimates pointing to a doubling in 2025. Yet, coverage is still limited: a third of Italians cover healthcare expenses with accumulated liquidity, while insurance premiums for health they are still very low: they represent 1,1% of GDP, against a European average of around 2,8% (Germany 2,8%, France 2,7%, Spain 2,3%). These are some of the data presented by Insurance Alliance of the Generali Italia Group, which plans to accelerate in the Protection segment with the new innovative offer WHealth presented on Thursday morning.
Access to care remains in many respects an open challenge, especially with the pandemic which, in the beginning, created big ones delays in diagnostics and assistance. According to Alleanza numbers, between February 2020 and September 2021 around -548 thousand diagnoses were lost, -398 thousand new treatments were lost with a considerable drop in exam requests equal to -3.961.000. The procrastination of visits and control exams will have important consequences on health despite the gradual recovery from spring 2021.
Against this backdrop, Alleanza offers a new policy, a hybrid model, to make treatment accessible to everyone even remotely, enriching it with new prevention and assistance services. WHealth and makes a concierge available to Italian families, i.e. a dedicated consultant who helps them in the search and choice of the most suitable structures for their specific needs and accompanies them in booking visits and tests quickly and easily: with around 2.500 medical and 8.500 dental centers and structures selected by Generali Welion and spread throughout the territory. Among these too Humanitas, European Institute of Oncology, San Donato Group and Gemelli Polyclinic. The service also takes care of possible transport and major treatments and high diagnostics, without incurring any additional costs.
In addition, WSalute provides a card that guarantees a teleconsultation that can be used 24 hours a day; annual prevention check-up, transport service in case of need for travel support; integrated post-hospitalization home assistance with specialized personnel for the entire convalescence.
Marco Sesana, Country Manager & CEO Generali Italia and Global Business, Covid has taught us an important lesson: “Our future is in Health. Prevention, healthy lifestyles, the best treatments must be accessible and affordable for everyone. With experience, innovative strength and an international vision, we are ready to help families and businesses to look to the future with renewed enthusiasm and optimism, through new, concrete and innovative solutions for health and well-being. Alleanza has moved once again to offer the best advice to its 2 million customers”.
“The topic of health is increasingly topical and relevant: the growing awareness of the need for controls and easy access points for this world represents a challenge for the insurance sector – he declared David Sparrow, Chief Executive Officer of Alleanza Assicurazioni during the presentation of the new WSalute offer -, we want to reaffirm our role as insurer even in an area deeply felt by people, that of health protection, which is assuming growing social importance. This is why "WSalute" was born: we want to make the protection of health and well-being accessible and within everyone's reach, thanks to the widespread presence of our Network combined with access to a network of high-quality healthcare facilities throughout the country. We thus want to continue to do our part alongside our customers and communities, because we are convinced, today more than ever, that private healthcare and public healthcare are complementary and can become an added value for Italian families and a factor in the development of the sector insurance".
