Monday, March 31, 2014

Micro insurance is within reach of everyone


BY: LEONARD T. PINEDA I
Thursday 27th of March 2014

ILOILO CITY, March 27 (PIA) --- Farmers and other minimum-wage earners are urged to avail of microinsurance to protect their fragile livelihoods and lives against inevitable risks and unexpected catastrophes.

In a seminar organized by the Department of Finance- National Credit Council and the Insurance Commission (IC) held Thursday, IC Deputy Commissioner Ferdinand George Florendo said said there are still a number of Filipinos who have not insured themselves although the microinsurance was introduced in the country way back in 2006.

Florendo said that financial literacy is important to raise awareness on how insurance for the low-income households works and how it can benefit them.

According to the National Strategy for Microinsurance and the Regulatory Framework, microinsurance caters to the low-income sector and a means to meet their needs for risk protections and relief against distress or misfortune.

Microinsurance offers protection against various risks including death, accident and illness, fire and other extended perils, calamities, disasters, casualty and other contingent events.
The amount of premium or contribution per microinsurance policy can range from less than P1.00 up to P19.00 per day. This means that the premium on microinsurance product can be as low as P30.00 per month.

Under the framework, the guaranteed benefit of one microinsurance policy shall not exceed P190,000. It is estimated that for a poor family, this amount can already provide 16.5 months of lost income resulting from a contingent event happening to it.

Florendo said that with the increasing number of institutions like insurance companies, mutual benefit associations and cooperatives around the country offering micro-insurance, it is expected that more Filipinos will insure themselves.

He added that microinsurance is considered an important contributor to the national poverty alleviation strategy. (JCM/LTP/PIA-Iloilo

- See more at: http://r06.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=2421395909020#sthash.WvhnuT9V.dpuf

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