Camille Needham (right) executive director of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) discusses insurance issues with (from left) Aaron Shaw, acting chief executive of MedeCus Health Insurance Limited; Paul Brown, marketing manager of Fraser Fontaine and Kong and Norman Williams, vice president for provider relations at MedeCus. The JHTA has signed an agreement with MedeCus for the group to provide health insurance benefits to the more than 2000 workers in the country's hotel industry. - CONTRIBUTED
OVER TWO thousand workers in Jamaica's hotel and resort industry are to benefit from improved health insurance after the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) approved a MedeCus Health Insurance Agency proposal.
The agreement was signed recently in Kingston by Horace Peterkin, president of the JHTA, executive director of the JHTA, Camille Needham and Aaron Shaw III, acting chief executive officer of MedeCus. The agency, a joint
venture between Guardian Life Limited and GraceKennedy Limited, replaced Blue Cross of Jamaica with the Guardian Life-underwritten MedeCus Health products as the products of choice for the hotel and resort industry.
"The MedeCus product offers an attractive package of health insurance benefits for our industry and we are very pleased to have them onboard. With this package, we hope to increase the number of hotel workers who can access health insurance because this is a very important aspect of their job security," noted Mr. Peterkin.
MedeCus' chief executive, Mr. Shaw, says his company is bringing to the marketplace the health insurance products of choice for Jamaican companies and their employees. Mr. Shaw says with the addition of the JHTA, MedeCus now provides the Guardian-underwritten health insurance services and products to over 65 client groups in Jamaica.
HEALTH CARDS
The product's health cards are widely accepted by well over 1,000 health industry providers, such as doctors, dentists, pharmacies, laboratories and hospitals, all across the country. The MedeCus Health insurance product, which was launched in July 2005, has already garnered approximately 10% of the local health insurance market and that figure is growing.
"We have steadily gained market share because of the affordability and attractiveness of the products, as well as the value-added services we coordinate. For example, clients and their employees can access important information and conduct transactions on the website, www.MedeCus.com, at any time of the day or night," says Mr. Shaw.
USE OF THE WEBSITE
MedeCus clients can use the website to enrol their members, request a replacement for a lost or stolen health card, track the payment of claims, view benefit balances, conduct research on prescription drugs and various medical conditions, and track their claims history.
Mr. Shaw says the MedeCus Heath product has been a trail blazer in the local industry by honouring claims and disseminating reimbursement cheques within five working days. He says the company intends to continue strengthening the four pillars of quality customer service, access to information, innovation, and product choice and flexibility, on which the product's competitiveness is built.
Noel Russell, vice-president of employee benefits for Fraser Fontaine and Kong, the insurance broker for the JHTA, has hailed the MedeCus Health product as an excellent addition to the local health insurance industry.
"This plan that MedeCus is offering to the JHTA is one which will certainly bring a great deal of comfort ... to workers in the hotel and resort industry," noted Mr. Russell.
