M-TIBA and Britam have today announced the signing of a new partnership to develop digital products to increase health insurance market penetration in Kenya.

The partnership will see Britam and Carepay explore new mobile channels for Britam’s fast-growing microinsurance portfolio and the future management of retail and SME health insurance clients. The first offering of this partnership will be a mobile based inpatient health insurance available to over 4 million M-TIBA registered users.

Britam pioneered the micro insurance sector back in 2012 and is now the largest micro insurance provider in Kenya (AKI, 2018). It serves over 700,000 micro insurance members with innovative health, funeral and credit-linked solutions.

During the signing ceremony, Saurabh Sharma, Britam’s General Manager Micro Insurance, said “We are keen to provide millions of people with access to health insurance. We know that Kenyans are early adopters of mobile financial services and that mobile innovation will help us reach more members. Our partnership with M-TIBA will see us digitizing how we reach current and prospective members, and it will build on our existing projects to streamline our claims processes.”

“Mobile health wallets, like M-TIBA, are growing in popularity with Kenyans, because of their ability to offer integration of different products, policies and payment methods in a single interface. Consumers now expect greater control of their health policies and mobiles can deliver real time information on benefits, limits and balances,” he added.

M-TIBA was developed by CarePay, in collaboration with PharmAccess and Safaricom. It has over 4 million registered users nationwide and is accepted by over 3,000 providers. It is working with leading insurers to provide a scalable and proven mobile customer interface and more efficient payment integration with their provider panels.

Moses Kuria, Managing Director, CarePay Kenya says, “We are passionate about supporting the drive for universal health coverage in Africa.  Mobile channels are becoming a prerequisite for insurers, agents and brokers to diversify their products beyond the traditional corporate segments. Our partnership with Britam will simplify how its members pay and access medical care.”