Patient Choice Health Insurance - Competitive Health Insurance Market

Patient Choice Health Insurance

Compared to today's fast-growing markets in the rest of Asia, these Tiger markets are quite mature, with a relatively stable competitive landscape. For example, the rankings of players have not changed much in recent years. In each of these markets, the top three players have maintained a 40-60 percent share of the market over the past few years. The overall numbers do not tell the whole story though - we will see that there are many underlying changes in these markets that are creating pressure on the incumbents. This is particularly significant in South Korea, where the incumbents have been rapidly losing market share to both smaller foreign players and local attackers.

Nonetheless, compared with the rest of Asia, these markets present a very different proposition to would-be entrants. Newcomers must take a very long-term view, because it is unlikely that a newcomer can organically grow a meaningful market position in these markets over a short period. The dominant channel is still the tied-agency force, which the existing players have built up over many years. Entrants will have to consider alternative business models, such as innovation in alternative channels, or establishing a highly specialized agency force. Some of these innovations have already taken place, especially in South Korea, and across the markets, the opening up of bancassurance has led to new players capturing market share through leveraging the branch distribution network.