New product definition

: pet insurance

Abstract

This dissertation aims to study the development of an insurance for pets, analysing the market attractiveness, the existing offer, both in the domestic and foreign markets, as well as understanding the factors that lead to the insurance subscription, and to design a business plan for a new player in the Portuguese market. AdvanceCare, a company specialized in insurance management and human health plans, requested this project to understand if this product would be feasible from an insurer’s perspective. To do so, research was carried out through the websites of all the Portuguese insurers, the two most developed markets in Europe were analysed, in search of best practices in pet insurance, a survey to understand the owners' references and a model to estimate product profitability, were developed. As there are two types of insurers in terms of access to health providers, it was important to know which regime would be more profitable. In one case, policy holders are free to choose the vet, and the insurance works entirely on a reimbursement basis, while in the second, health expenses are only covered if they are treated in a predefined network. With the regression models based on the survey data, it was concluded that the most decisive factors in the subscription of an animal insurance policy, is the size and the amount spent by the owner on its health. According to the model developed, this new product will be profitable for insurers, and the pre-defined network regime will be the most attractive strategy.

Date of Award	18 Oct 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Rute Xavier (Supervisor)