“When somebody has mental illness, there are also a lot of financial implications. They may not be able to work. More often than not, the caregiver also will be affected and needs to incur additional costs. For example, they cannot leave somebody that they love at home alone [for safety reasons],” she said, explaining that the policy offers a financial safety net for this.
The plan was launched before the pandemic when the topic of mental illness was more openly discussed.
“Though mental illness has become a very common subject today, in 2019, it was still a taboo subject. Hence, it was a difficult thing to convince our customers to talk about it at that point in time,” she said.
Nevertheless, Hadikusuma and her team pushed ahead. “We wanted to de-stigmatise mental illness. Because if we include mental illness as a critical illness, we basically recognise it as a true health concern.”
HER BEST LEADERSHIP LESSONS
Developing insurance products is a complex process. The insurance company has to understand the community to decide what to cover, understand the condition and define the parameters of the coverage.
It has to price the product with actuarial knowledge and test the pricing in the market. Then, it has to develop the system, policy contract, collaterals, and marketing material, and teach its insurance agents how to use it.
All this falls under Hadikusuma’s purview, which is why she has a nearly 130-strong team including technical, research and creative departments.