Romania's private hospital operator MedLife enters online health insurance market with Generali

Romanian private healthcare operator MedLife and insurance company Generali recently launched several health insurance packages for individuals, which are available via online orders. MedLife's insurance arm MedLife Broker and Generali created Vital, which can only be bought online and which gives access to surgery, hospitalization, lab analysis, as well as imaging services. The insurance package also comes with the option to include family members in the package, with a 50 percent discount. “Despite the intense PR, the health insurance sector has not registered tangible progress, and still represents under 2 percent of the general insurance in Romania, while at European level it is at 25 percent. At the same time, we have discovered plenty of clients who want medical insurance, but who are confused by the often incomplete multiple sources of information,” said Mihail Marcu, president ofMedLife (in picture). The minimum cost for the insurance is RON 45 per month (around EUR 10), while the maximum value is RON 264 (some EUR 60), which includes all medical costs, as well as those for the spouse and a child. There are four different packages, starting from the basic surgery and hospitalization, with three add-ons: fractures, consultation and investigations and imaging. MedLife upped its revenues by 20 percent in 2012, to some EUR 58.8 million, which was the expected level for the year. The expectations for 2013 are for double digit growth, with plans to invest in a new emergency hospital and a molecular genetics lab. MedLife was founded in 1996 and is currently the largest private medical operator in Romania. It runs nine hyperclinics in the country, eight labs, six hospitals, three maternity hospitals, 28 general medical units, nine specialized units, six pharmacies under the PharmaLife brand, and collaborates with 135 partner clinics. editor@romania-insider.com