Case Study of Oman Insurance Company's Healthcare Strategies

This case study examines Oman Insurance Company's healthcare insurance strategies within a competitive market. It explores the utility and advantages of healthcare insurance, analyzing the company's pricing structure, opportunities, and threats. The research investigates the benefits of environmental health insurance and its role in reducing disease burdens. It identifies key competitive advantages, such as flexible premiums and extensive coverage, and assesses the impact of technology on mitigating obstacles. The study uses qualitative and quantitative methodologies including literature review, research design and data analysis. The case study also provides recommendations for enhancing performance in the competitive business environment, contributing valuable insights into the healthcare insurance industry's development and future prospects.

Running head: A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
A Case Study of Oman Insurance Company X
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

2A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank my University and the professor for allowing me to contribute as well as
providing opportunity to complete my research despite of all challenges that I have faced. It
will not forget the efforts that are made by the professors and other for guiding me with
patience, guidance and understanding. I would not have completed this research without their
guidance and understanding and you are all special to me.

3A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
Abstract
The research mainly focuses on the case study of The Oman Insurance Company X that has
focused on the targeted market as well as the general description of the insurance strategies
that are provided to the insurance holders. The research intends to discuss on the utility and
advantage of healthcare insurance in today’s competitive environment. The opportunities and
threats of the health insurance in the context of the organisation is also analysed and assessed.
The different environmental health insurance policies help in the promotion of safe
environment that would decrease the riskiness of life of the individuals of the population. The
competitive advantages of healthcare insurance services are found out in the light of Oman
Insurance Company X. There could be many aspects of human health and disease that are
governed by the different factors of environment. It has been observed that the people can go
cashless anytime and therefore might have difficulties in paying for the expensive bills of the
hospitals. It has been seen that these factors have an impact on the individual’s uptake of
different preventive services. The analysis of the responses have been provided in the below
part along with their results. Moreover, the importance of technology has been realised by the
company as they are prone to certain obstacles and these obstacles would be mitigated by the
hell of technology. The study found that the development of health insurance industry in
Oman is direct and the division features a shining future.

4A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction..............................................................................................................6
1.1Background of the study.......................................................................................................7
1.2 Problem statement..............................................................................................................10
1.3 Aims and objectives......................................................................................................11
1.3.1 Aim..............................................................................................................................11
1.3.2 Objectives....................................................................................................................12
1.4 Research Question..............................................................................................................12
1.5 Scope of the research.........................................................................................................13
Chapter 2: Literature Review...................................................................................................14
2.1 Environmental health insurance.........................................................................................14
2.2 Pricing and competition.....................................................................................................16
2.4 Opportunities and Threats..................................................................................................18
2.3 Evaluation of healthcare for competitive advantage – case of Oman Insurance Company
X X...........................................................................................................................................19
2.5 Competitive strategy for performance improvement.........................................................21
2.6 Summary of the Literature.................................................................................................22
Chapter 3: Research Methodology...........................................................................................23
3.1 Introduction........................................................................................................................23
3.2 Research Philosophy..........................................................................................................23
3.3 Research Approach............................................................................................................24

5A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
3.4 Research Design.................................................................................................................25
3.5 Kinds of data used..............................................................................................................25
3.6 Process of data collection...................................................................................................26
3.7 Sample and sample size.....................................................................................................26
3.8 Data Analysis Plan.............................................................................................................26
Chapter 4: Results and Findings..............................................................................................27
4.1 Pricing............................................................................................................................27
4.2 Evaluation......................................................................................................................29
4.3 Opportunities..................................................................................................................51
4.4 Threats............................................................................................................................51
4.5 A competitive Strategy...................................................................................................52
Chapter 5: Conclusion..............................................................................................................53
5.1 Conclusion......................................................................................................................53
5.2 Addressing the objectives..............................................................................................55
5.3 Recommendation............................................................................................................56
5.4 Future Research..............................................................................................................57
Reference List..........................................................................................................................58
Appendix..................................................................................................................................64

6A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
Chapter 1: Introduction
The research intends to discuss on the utility and advantage of healthcare insurance in
today’s competitive environment. In this context, the case of Oman Insurance Company X
has been taken as a reference for determining the competitive advantage of healthcare
insurance in the recent market environment. The first objective is to provide a general
description of the environment of healthcare insurance (Huffman and van Gameren 2018).
The next objective is to analyse the pricing structure of the company with respect to
healthcare insurance. The opportunities and threats of the health insurance in the context of
the organisation is also analysed and assessed. Another objective of this research is to
identify one of the significant competitive strategies of the company in order to suggest
suitable recommendations for enhancing performance in the competitive business
environment.
Further, the literature review of the research discusses about the four significant
components of the study. In the first section of the literature review, environmental healthcare
insurance is stressed upon. It has been observed that environmental health insurance help in
reducing the burden of diseases. The different environmental health insurance policies help in
the promotion of safe environment that would decrease the riskiness of life of the individuals
of the population (Hsing and Ioannidis 2015). The next part of literature review highlights
pricing and competition of health insurance as reflected in the Oman Insurance Company X.
While talking about the prices, the different online services which are provided by the
company are discussed. These prices are compared with the prices that are offered by the
competitors. The competitive advantages of healthcare insurance services are found out in the
light of Oman Insurance Company X (Hsing and Ioannidis 2015). Some of the key benefits of
the company are flexible term of paying premiums, higher limits for performing medical

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tests, payment of medical fees by the company, long-term policies up to 61 years and wide
range of beneficial services at affordable prices.
1.1Background of the study
Healthcare insurance is a kind of insurance service that is used in paying for the
healthcare of the customers. The healthcare services cover a wide range starting from a
routine check-ups to serious illnesses or injuries (Kose, Gokturk and Kilic 2015). The
healthcare services also consist of other preventive services that are required for the perfect
health of the customers. The health insurances are bought through the payment of a premium
amount that is included in the monthly bill of the customers. Therefore, it is evident that the
customers receive medical services in return for a small portion of their costs.
The health care benefit policies vary from one company to another. The customers
should always look into the benefits as well as limitations of the respective plan before opting
for it. Most of the healthcare plans requires the customers to receive their care from a
particular doctor or a hospital (Gruber and McKnight 2016). The customers generally show
the details of their insurance policies or plans to the doctors. Through this information, the
doctor or hospital would charge the insurance company in lieu of the services that are
received by the customers.
Normally, health insurances come with insurance cards which contain the proof of the
insurance plan or policy of the particular customer. In the course of the process of insurance,
the doctors or the hospitals generally make contracts with the insurance companies and
become part of the network of those companies (Agyepong et al. 2016). These contracts
elaborate all the regulations that are to be followed with respect to the medical services
provided by these doctors and hospitals. The insurance companies pay the bills of these
medical services under terms and conditions. Therefore, health insurances can prove to be

8A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
beneficial for the customers as they get the complete medical charge for their treatments
through spending of only a portion of their money.
The first health insurance firm was established way back in 1920s. During that period,
individual hospitals offered pre-paid plans to the help the patients. According to these plan,
the patients can get medical services free of cost and the hospitals used to bear these medical
expenses (Abraham, Royalty and Drake 2016). In the later years, the health insurance had
been sponsored by the employers which became a commonplace during that time. Employers
mainly started this beneficiary service for compensating the low wages that they paid to the
workers. They also started this for recruiting employees during huge demand for jobs and less
supply of workers.
The earliest form of health insurance was named as “accident” insurance. According
to this insurance plan, the concerned authority is required to pay a specific and pre-
determined amount to the policyholder only during accidents (Abraham, Royalty and Drake
2016). This was the primary insurance system available in the United-States during the
middle of 1800s. After a long time during 1900s, the insurance plan started covering a range
of services and was first started in Texas. The plan that had been developed in Texas, covered
all kinds of injuries and sicknesses and not only accidents.
The case study of Oman Insurance Company X will be taken as a reference in order to
study the background of healthcare insurance (Omanutd.com 2019). The company has been
operating for more than 32 years in the Oman market. The company has sound financials in
its business and believes in generating profitability through sustainable development. The
company through the years have also been recognised to be one of the best companies in the
department of customer service (Omanutd.com 2019). Employers mainly started this
beneficiary service for compensating the low wages that they paid to the workers. The

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company has set up a mission of protecting the life and other properties of its customers from
the unforeseen risks which might be occurring in the future days.
Oman Insurance Company X has the mission of catering to the needs of the
individuals who seek out for medical expenses during their treatments. For this purpose, the
company presents individual medical insurance plan which is based on a kind of insurance
cover. This service is mainly provided in order to lessen the burden of medical expenses of
the different individuals (Omanutd.com 2019). The key benefits included in the cover are the
consultation fees of the physician, procedures for diagnosis, prescribed drugs of the patients,
physiotherapy through the referral of any physician and other medical elements prescribed by
the physician. These elements include bandages, splints, crutches and plaster casts. The
expenses for all the above services are covered under the benefit of this individual health
insurance plan.
There are also many in-patient benefits which are given under the cover such as
charges for intensive care unit, charges for dressings, fees of surgery, fees of surgeon and
anaesthetists, general nursing care and many others (Omanutd.com 2019). The other sectors
which are included in the medical insurance cover are dental treatment, optical treatment and
maternity treatment.
The study also takes into account environmental health which is a branch of public
health that is related to the natural and build environment which directly has an impact on the
public health (Thorpe Jr et al. 2015). Environmental health has been first termed by World
Health Organisation (WHO). According to this definition, there could be many aspects of
human health and disease that are governed by the different factors of environment. The term
can also be defined as the theory and practice of assessment of the controlling factors of the
environment that are likely to affect human health.

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1.2 Problem statement
The thesis has a relevance and a contribution to the society as it takes into account the
research works of health care and health insurance. Health research would provide significant
value to the society (Curtis, Comiskey and Dempsey 2016). Through this research important
information would be retrieved regarding the various trends of diseases and risk factors that
might be occurring within the individuals of the society. Therefore, there is need for a
constant treatment among the individuals of the society (Curtis, Comiskey and Dempsey
2016). The people might not be financially sound to meet up the expenses of treatment or the
cost of the hospitals. In this context, the advantages of having a healthcare insurance can be
noteworthy.
It has been observed that the people can go cashless anytime and therefore might have
difficulties in paying for the expensive bills of the hospitals. Health insurance helps in
providing cashless treatment when the insurance company works in collaboration with the
networks of various hospitals (Asghari and Babu 2018). Sometimes, the patients are charged
even before getting admitted to the hospital and also after getting released from the hospitals.
The health insurance policy also covers pre-hospitalisation as well as post-hospitalisation
charges. The transportation charges of the patients can also create a problem when the patient
is shifted from his house to the hospital. The health insurance policy also takes care of this
situation.
According to a recent estimated report, approximately 41 million people of different
countries do not have health insurance. Some of the people have been reported to have
received insurance through an employer but most of the low income groups of people do not
have access to a group coverage (Asghari and Babu 2018). There can be various other risks
and limitations of not having insured in a health insurance. The people who do not have

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health insurance generally try to avoid doctors even if there is an emergency situation. This
might lead to a delayed care of the respective patient and can be life threating for him or her.
The healthcare providers are not expected to provide quality care to the patients who
are not insured under a health insurance. According to law, the uninsured individuals would
only get emergency rooms in order to get access to immediate medical attention. Further,
people without health insurance generally try to self-diagnose themselves and often ignore
the symptoms of the diseases. Due to this reason, the minor issue can turn out to be an
emergency problem.
The Affordable Care Act was first started in order to reduce the number of uninsured in
many countries. The Act aimed at providing the patients with affordable healthcare coverage
so that they can make their healthcare insurance at affordable prices (Blumenthal, Abrams
and Nuzum 2015). The Act also stated that the individuals should enrol themselves in
healthcare plans or otherwise have to pay a penalty. The uninsured individuals had to face tax
consequences as a result of not enrolling themselves into different healthcare insurance plans.
Along with this, the individuals are also prone to financial burdens if they have not insured
themselves. This would ultimately increase the debt burden of those individuals in the
subsequent years.
1.3 Aims and objectives
1.3.1 Aim
The primary aim of this research is to bring about an evaluation of the healthcare
insurance for judging its competitiveness in the market. This research takes into account both
the general description as well as specific description of health insurance (Mahatma et al.
2016). In the general description the environment of healthcare insurance is talked about
focussing on the surrounding market of the healthcare insurance. In the specific description a

12A CASE STUDY OF OMAN INSURANCE COMPANY X
case has been chosen that relates to Oman Insurance Company X. The different policies,
pricing strategies and other operations of the company are judged in order to get an overview
of the health insurance market which is being researched upon.
1.3.2 Objectives
The research sets up different objectives related to healthcare insurance. The research
intends to investigate on the different steps that are being followed in integrating healthcare
insurance with the environment.
1. The next objective is to analyse the pricing structure of the healthcare insurance
and make suitable evaluations from the figured out structure.
2. The next objective is to examine the opportunities of healthcare insurance which
would help the company in its growth and development in the market (Neprash et
al. 2015). The potential threats would also be found out in order to identify the
risks and limitations of health insurance and the ways by which the competitors
can take advantage of their weaknesses.
3. The final objective is to identify a competitive strategy that would enhance the
growth and development of health insurance market among its competitors
(Huffman and van Gameren 2018). This would also help the company, that is,
Oman Insurance Company X, in improving its strategic performance in its
surrounding competitive business environment.
All these objectives would help the health insurance companies in becoming aware of
the surroundings and take necessary decisions as well as actions for the betterment of their
operations (Neprash et al. 2015). The research would also make the society and the
individuals aware of the benefits of having a health insurance plan so that they become
cautious of their own lives and take appropriate actions for mitigating their health risks.