A ground-breaking scheme is being launched that will enable Myanmar citizens to take out insurance covering health, insurance and the effects of bad weather in the next few months says U Maung Maung Thein, Deputy Minister for Finance and Revenue.

The comprehensive “Policy Insurance” would be a major step forward for the industry, with health insurance already available. Education insurance would cover tuition costs for a student in the event of the death of the parent or guardian. “The premium will be lower if all parents buy education insurance,” said U Maung Maung Thein, adding that he was in discussion with the Education Ministry over making the insurance compulsory.

Some insurance companies had planned to launch weather index insurance in 2015 on the basis research conducted by experts on weather conditions, rainfall and temperature. “This insurance covers weather condition in a region. It doesn’t take into account how much damage is caused because of the weather. The company sells the insurance according to the rainfall of a given region, and the company will compensate policy holders if rainfall exceeds the average,” he said.

Myanmar Insurance formerly offered a crop insurance policy that compensated for the destruction of a harvest, but farmers reportedly found it poorly managed and slow. The new policy is being introduced to reduce the government’s responsibility for hardships caused by unpredictable events. The deputy minister confirmed that the special travel insurance launched last May was attracting more attention following the YarZar Min bus accident, despite initial criticism over the K300 it added to the ticket price.