Swiss Re to Establish China Medical Consulting Service

Swiss Re announced it has received approval to establish a consulting company in China to provide comprehensive third party administrator (TPA) and related consulting services to hospitals, insurers, policyholders and employers.

“Beijing Prestige Health Consulting Services Company Limited (Prestige Health) is wholly owned by Swiss Re,” said the announcement, “but will operate independently. Prestige Health plans to open for business later this year, under the leadership of Mr. CheeKok Poh, who is transferring from Swiss Re’s Beijing Branch where he led the medical insurance team, to become CEO of the new company.”

Martyn Parker, a member of Swiss Re’s Executive Board and CEO of its Asia Division, noted that Swiss Re “is proud and excited to be able to contribute towards the growth and development of China’s healthcare insurance segment.”

Swiss Re noted that “Prestige Health aims to help China’s medical insurance industry achieve its huge growth potential, and aid local insurers in meeting the challenge of writing the business profitably – a challenge faced by so many of their counterparts around the world.

“A recent Swiss Re sigma study estimates that China spent more than RMB 1,000 billion (USD137 billion) on healthcare in 2007, 52 percent of which was directly paid by households. Commercial medical insurance covered less than 6 percent of these costs, implying a market potential of RMB 489 billion (USD 67 billion).”

Source: Swiss Re – www.swissre.com