Fever pitch

Fever pitch

From over medication to fraud, Green Crescent CEO Carlos J Sardegna talks about the region’s health insurance business heating up.

March 24, 2011 3:05 by shafeer

Q: What about cases of over-medication?

We’ve noticed that when patients go to see doctors they return with bags full of medicines, like from grocery shops. We have a new pre-approval process in place for certain types of medications. It not only helps stop fraud but also spares patients from over-medication. Of course it is a cultural issue. Medications are 35 to 40 per cent of the total healthcare costs in the UAE. However, in the high priced US market they account for just 12 per cent.

Q: Do you extend the coverage outside the country?

We offer patients the opportunity to get treated in their home countries. We have policies that cover you just for the UAE or globally. We cover 180 countries. In the United States we have a special relationship with the United Healthcare, which has over 500,000 providers. We are probably the only local company that has global coverage available.

About the company

Green Crescent was founded in 2008 as a public joint stock company funded by a paid-up capital of Dh250 million. It provides tailor-made health insurance solutions to groups and corporate clients.

This is an excerpt from an interview originally published in POLICY, The Voice of Middle East Insurance.

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Tags: Health, Healthcare, hospital, illness, insurance, Middle East, policy, UAE