Established in 2004, VIVAS Health entered the health insurance market at a time of little choice or innovation amongst providers and quickly established itself as a company offering policies that were flexible, practical and tailored to the needs of individuals or companies. The company has seen enormous growth since its launch with a turnover run rate of € 100 million per annum and boasts the position as the largest insurer of previously uninsured people.
With 110 employees, direct and outsourced, located in Dublin and Cork, the company has also created hundreds of indirect jobs through intermediaries and brokers who distribute their products. VIVAS Health has worked hard to influence regulatory reform in the private health insurance market.
Products/Services:
VIVAS healthcare offerings are tailored for young individuals, people in their late 20s to early 30s and families with children. Another key segment is elderly couples whose children are all leaving the home. Customers can choose between two and five levels of cover. The company's health insurance product and service innovations provide the widest choice of hospitals and treatment centres in the market, a series of lifestyle and wellness benefits, education and information, simple web-based administration and support, and place a strong emphasis on primary care, preventative medicine and screening.
Customers:
The VIVAS Health customer base includes almost 1,200 corporate customers across all industries in Ireland. With over 120,000 individual customers, the company is already the largest insurer of previously uninsured, as well as the largest destination for customers looking to switch their health insurance provider. The company is also one of the largest insurers of teachers, nurses and non-nationals. Principal corporate customer sectors include financial services, pharmaceutical, public sector, information technology, hospitality, manufacturing, construction and healthcare.
Q: Describe the progression from start-up to your current status?
A: VIVAS Health launched in October 2004 and has doubled in size every six months since then. We were the first health insurer to sell on the web and through a network of intermediaries.
Q: Express the biggest challenge you see your industry facing?
A: Government policy and regulation is the biggest problem for the private healthcare and private health insurance sectors. Until the Government encourages competition and entrepreneurship which will benefit all consumers and ceases its protectionist policies toward State owned providers, the full potential of the sector as an employer and contributor to the exchequer will not be realised.
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