Bought AXA Mansard Health Insurance Plan

Last year, October I think, I went round the biggest insurance companies checking for one with the best health insurance plan. I started with a visit to AIICO Insurance as I have once been the facilitator for a training that the participants were from AIICO Pension. I naturally try to spend first with the people I have benefited from. AIICO Insurance didn't have a direct health insurance product, rather they have a partner (HMO, I think) they work with to provide that. Nothing wrong with that. The plans were very reasonable. But I wanted to check round as many as possible before deciding which to go with.

I went to Leadway Assurance, even connected with the sales person as he once worked for Airtel. I tried checking out AXA Mansard in Ikeja but the address online is different from the address they are at. And then the new address isn't straightforward to locate. So I missed my way twice or thrice and was really annoyed. Then I remembered I once trained one of their staff on Digital Marketing and had helped her a few times after the training. So I searched my phone for her number and reported my frustration. She helped out. And I was sent all the details about their health insurance plans.

Despite AXA Mansard's plan being the highest priced among the three for roughly equal cover, theirs was the most straightforward and detailed. And they handle it in-house, not via a partner. So my mind was made up. I would be going with theirs.

Finally, last month I went to the hospital on their list closest to me. I examined the hospital and spoke with a couple of the staff. Stayed long enough to see how they treat their clients/patients. It wasn't bad. Actually good as per that industry. Nurses and doctors aren't naturally a nice set of people. I then decided to follow up on my last year emails with AXA Mansard. Filled the application form, scanned and sent to them. And this week, I made the payment for the Bronze plan. It was okay for my health needs and looked like a good start. I am waiting for the completion of the processing of my application and sending my details to the hospital I chose.

Interestingly, I am with a team trying to do a nationwide project for another insurance company. I have been learning a lot of very interesting stuff about that industry. I even got tempted to invest in the leading company in that industry. But upon checking the profitability ratios and other important financial metrics, I found it better to stick to my few chosen stocks -- Total, Zenith Bank, Dangote Cement, Nestle and Total. Their profit margin is very slim, slimmer than that of the banks, and as both banks and insurance companies are in same broad industry affected by similar macro-economics the same way, I felt better going with banks that have 2x profit margin.