The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has underscored the need for people to insure their families, property and business against unforeseen circumstances.
The Deputy Commissioner of Insurance, Mr Simon Davor, said such unforeseen circumstances included fire, flood, death, disability and accidents..
According to him, those were part of the inevitable risks associated with life’s activities.
In his opening address at a forum on micro-insurance for the low income population and the informal sector in Accra last Wednesday, Mr Davor said the government had reviewed the insurance policy to include micro-insurance to enable all classes of income groups to access insurance products.
Micro-insurance forum
The workshop was organised by the NIC as part of activities marking the financial literacy week declared by the Ministry of Finance.
It was aimed at raising public awareness of the numerous benefits of insurance, particularly micro-insurance, and educating the target group on micro-insurance.
The review was to make micro-insurance products accessible to low income and actors in the informal sector.
He said before the review, insurance premiums were high and they were deducted from salaries at the banks, so the informal sector could not buy insurance policies.
Micro-Insurance
Mr Davor defined micro-insurance as the provision of insurance products appropriate for the low-income population and the informal sector.
He said there were currently 34 micro-insurance products, including education, funeral, family, credit, accident and hospital on the market being offered by 16 insurance companies.
According to him, the products had been made affordable and accessible to the target group.
He said micro-insurance claims were supposed to be paid within 10 days of receiving accurate claim document.
Mr Davor said in order to protect policy holders from fraudsters, all micro-insurance product documents were expected to have a distinguished logo provided by the commission.
According to him, policy holders who faced any challenges with an insurance company should report to the commission for help.
He explained that once an insured property was sold, the policy automatically expired.
Source: Graphic
