AIA Vietnam has launched the Personal Medical Case Management Service together with global healthcare services provider Medix Group to support customers suffering from cancer and other serious illnesses.

This represents another step towards achieving its strategy of going beyond the traditional insurance model of being a “payer” of claims and becoming a “partner” to its customers.

Wayne Besant, CEO AIA Vietnam, speaks about this and more.

AIA is a life insurance company but has launched the Personal Medical Case Management Service. There must be a special reason, right?

Right. The special reason we launched the Personal Medical Case Management Service is that we want to make a difference in Vietnam. We want to make our brand message, ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives’, a reality.

In Vietnam, cancer is one of the major critical illnesses and a big concern for people. So we want to do something meaningful and ensure that we make a difference in helping people who get cancer.

Nearly 165,000 new cases of cancer are diagnosed every year and around 70 per cent, or 100,000 people, die of the disease every year.

With more screening and early diagnosis, many people do not have to die of cancer. We want to reduce the incidence of cancer and the rate of people dying of it in Vietnam.

That is why we have entered into this partnership with Medix to make a difference.

Traditionally, if you become sick or die, insurance companies will pay. But we at AIA want to move away from the paradigm of being just a “payer” and become a “partner” on the life journey of our customers.

We have set our mission as a “partner” with our customers to save lives by fighting one of the most prevalent diseases in Vietnam, cancer.

How can AIA Vietnam’s customers benefit from the Personal Medical Case Management Service?

People often feel scared, worried and anxious when diagnosed with cancer. They are perplexed about what to do next. It is normal.

So we work with customers to make sure that we provide clarity and certainty right from the start and through the entire process of diagnosis and treatment of their medical condition. We provide access to the world’s leading experts and ensure they receive the best treatment.

Let us say a customer is diagnosed with lung cancer or breast cancer or bone cancer. The world’s top doctors, who could be in France, Hong Kong or America, will look at their condition and recommend a specific treatment. The patient might be able to get the treatment in Vietnam or go elsewhere for it, but they will get that certainty and clarity.

The Personal Medical Case Management Service thus enables our customers to make the most informed decision possible about their health and helps comfort them and alleviate their concerns.

We are the only insurance company to have an exclusive partnership with Medix. We have successfully launched the programme in other markets like Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

We are so proud to introduce this acclaimed service in Vietnam to help Vietnamese people live Healthier, Longer, Better lives.

Why is ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Lives’ the top concern for AIA Vietnam?

We provide products and services like Medix to help our customers live Healthier, Longer and Better lives. And that is better for customers and for Vietnam because fewer people will be using hospitals and the healthcare system. It is a customer proposition that promotes healthy living and it starts with our nhan vien, our customers, dai ly and partners.

If you imagine AIA Vietnam as a person, what is this person like?

I have been working for AIA for 10 years - 5 years in New Zealand and the last 5 years in Vietnam.

What I like about AIA is it is a caring company. With Medix, we offer it to our staff before we take it to the market, and 1200 of my nhan vien all get Medix straightaway. We would not do it without the staff getting the service first, because our people have to feel first what we want our customers to feel.

That is just one of many examples of the care our company has for its nhan vien. AIA Vietnam is a very caring and strong organization.

The second thing I like about AIA is it is very focused on what it does.

When we focus in Vietnam on reducing cancer, we will succeed because we focus and we execute; we do what we say. We are a caring company, and we are very focused.

We care about Vietnam. And we live by “What is good for Vietnam is good for AIA Vietnam”. Our goal is to do the right thing in Vietnam and we have a duty as a big company in Vietnam to help the country develop and prosper.

What is AIA Vietnam’s growth strategy for the coming years?

Our customers are at the core of what we do. AIA Vietnam is all about providing people security and peace of mind toward a ‘Healthier, Longer, Better Life’.

We have a strategy to make sure we grow the business in the right way. We focus on our agency business, full time agents and general agency in our provinces. Only 9 per cent of Vietnamese have life insurance cover. We focus on education and creating more awareness about the benefits of insurance.

We partner with selected banks, the best banks, to provide the same care to their customers as well.

A big focus for the future is an enhanced and best in market digital capability to build on our market leading proposition.

I am so excited about the future of this beautiful country.

I am also very excited about AIA Vietnam’s role in helping Vietnam develop and succeed.