Health insurance may be recession proof
Local talent and technology support key to success for international medical insurance services
Financial crisis and economic slowdown may prevent many companies from expanding but health insurance can be recession proof in any market, according to a veteran insurer Martin Garcia.
Garcia co-founded his medical insurance company Now Health International in Hong Kong in 2009 during the global financial crisis and plans to expand his company further despite the economic slowdown that has gripped mainland China since last year.
“Health insurance finances people to access medical and hospital services whenever they need. When the economy is bad and people have to cut down their expenditure, the last things they want to cut down may be their health insurance policies,” Garcia said at his North Point office.
Garcia, who is from France, is no stranger in Hong Kong, having worked as an intern here in 1988. He then started his career in medical insurance in France before returning to Hong Kong to work in medical insurance in 1992.
Now Health is a health insurance provider that targets expatriates and high-net-worth clients in Hong Kong, mainland China, Indonesia, Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. It plans to expand into Africa.
“I always want to do business in the international world. I like working in the medical insurance industry as this can provide protection to people,” Garcia said.