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Insurers in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region believe that the increased number of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will increase employer-sponsored healthcare costs to a ‘very large extent’ over the next three years. Medical trend,which is defined as a change in healthcare costs, is also influenced by the price inflation, a study conducted by Mercer Marsh Benefits (MM) has revealed. About 41 percent of insurers who participated in the survey believe that next three years will see a significant increase in the healthcare costs.
In Qatar, the study titled ‘Understanding the Drivers of Medical Inflation in MEA’, projected a medical trend rate of 11 percent for 2019, with a 3.5 percent forecast inflation rate this year.
About 61 percent of insurers in the region expect even bigger medical inflation increase in 2020, the study added. Higher levels of NCDs mean a higher likelihood frequency of related health insurance claims. NCDs include heart disease, cancers, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, mental illness, and kidney diseases.
Talking to The Peninsula yesterday, Dr Usama Al Dulaimi, Medical Director at Qatar Medical Center (QMC), said the centre sees new cases of diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol among patients everyday.
He added: “This can be attributed to the prevalence of unhealthy lifestyles and food intake, in addition to the cases of hereditary diseases. Plans are now underway to increase the prices of our services. We need this in order to increase the salaries of the staff as well as to balance the increasing costs of medical supplies and equipments that we acquire”.
Al Dulaimi added that cases of respiratory illnesses such as asthma, were also commonly seen at the centre. Similarly, the MMB research, which was conducted to 204 insurers across 59 countries, stated that while the global trend for the highest cause of claims was cancer, the MEA region bucked the trend with respiratory conditions accounting for 56 percent of its claims. A prevalence towards smoking in the region feeds into the threat of respiratory conditions.
“Smoking is a risk factor for cancers, heart problems and respiratory illnesses. And the kind of humid weather that we have is another factor to consider,” Al Dulaimi said.
The study also highlighted that across the region, there is a heavy reliance on air conditioning, with some living in fully air conditioned world; from home, to transport, malls, and work environments. When individuals venture outside of these air-conditioned environments, they are confronted by variance in temperature, and the temperature change can put the respiratory system under pressure.
In addition to the air conditioning inside the vehicle, there is also the matter of pollutants which can affect the environment outside. According to the study, air pollution deaths cost economies in the Mena region more than $9bn.
