Results From the yufin Microinsurance Survey are Out

Shubhrendu Khoche  •  October 30, 2023

An illustration showing the survey results on the challenges and opportunities in health insurance in the Philippines, conducted by yufin.
Trusted, local, and one of us.
We asked five hundred of our yufin small merchants in ten tier 2 and tier 3 cities in Visayas and Mindanao in the Philippines about their health insurance status, plans and aspirations. 
An illustration showing the survey results on the challenges of health insurance in lower income households in the Philippines, conducted by yufin.
Not surprisingly, they are highly exposed but there are big opportunities hiding behind these obvious obstacles.
An illustration showing the survey results on the challenges of health insurance in lower income households in the Philippines, conducted by yufin.
As India starts moving ahead on the ‘Bima Vahak’ model of last mile insurance distribution by women in local communities mandated by the regulatory and development authority IRDAI, we have been priming our own yufin merchants in the Philippines to educate and distribute affordable monthly health, personal accident, and two wheeler insurance to their shoppers. It just so happens that >85% of our yufin merchants are women!
A telling response that drives us to solve for insurance distribution using our last mile yufin merchants: 4 in 5 of the yufin merchants surveyed, mentioned that they had borrowed money from informal sources to pay for emergency hospital expenses.
Note: This survey was inspired by the seminal work done by PayNearby in India. We found both similarities and uniquely Pinoy texture in the responses from yufin merchants.