ERGO press releases concerning the business segment "Direct Insurance" - RSS feed

ERGO Direkt helps customers save nearly 1.5 million Euros in dentistry bills

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 11:41:00 +0100

Press release 7 March 2013

Since September 2012 ERGO Direkt‘s dental cost optimizer has been offering a free service that enables consumers to significantly reduce their dentist bills. And it works: Since its launch patients have been able to save nearly 1.5 million Euros. Now the service is even simpler: Anybody interested can download all documents as editable PDFs direct from the Internet.

Not only patients’ teeth can hurt; dental bills can also be painful. “Extensive repair work can easily cost a couple of thousand Euros”, according to Peter M. Endres, Chairman of the Board of Management of ERGO Direkt. “Usually, however, price comparisons are impossible.” Rather, patients are led to believe that dentists’ prices are somehow non-negotiable. To create more transparency ERGO Direkt started the dental cost optimizer half a year ago. Through the direct insurer anybody is able to obtain alternative quotations for necessary dental treatment, anonymously and free of charge. In this way thousands of Euros can be saved on extensive treatments. “So far, the patients have had the chance to save a total of nearly 1.5 million Euros,” Endres is happy to say.

All the patients need to do is send a copy of their treatment and cost plan to ERGO Direkt. After anonymising the data the direct insurer then collects alternative quotations from registered dentists in the vicinity of the patient through its partner “2te-Zahnarztmeinung.de” (second dentist's opinion). Meanwhile, participating has become even easier. “Anybody interested can simply download all documents as editable PDFs direct from our website on the Internet”, Endres reports. Since the beginning of March this innovative service has also been advertised on nationwide TV.

For further information, please contact:

ERGO Direkt Versicherungen
Corporate Communications
Frank Roth

Tel +49 911 148-1873
Fax +49 800 701-1111
frank.roth@ergodirekt.de
presseservice@ergodirekt.de

About the ERGO Direct Insurance
With over 4.3 million customers ERGO Direkt is Germany‘s most popular direct insurer. The company specializes in simple, easy-to-understand products belonging to the standard requirements of private households. Important products in this context are supplementary dental insurance, longterm care daily benefits, term life insurance and funeral expenses cover. Lean processes and fast processing enable it to offer attractive premiums. Since its foundation the company has been enjoying steady and above-average growth. Today, around 1,900 employees work at the facility in Nuremberg/Fuerth. ERGO Direkt is part of the ERGO Insurance group and thus of Munich Re, one of the leading reinsurers and risk carriers worldwide.
More at www.ergodirekt.de

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the management of ERGO Direct Insurance. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation and performance of our Company. The Company assumes no liability to update these forwardlooking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

Women should make provision now

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0200

Press release 22. October 2012

The new “unisex tariffs” mean that specific insurance tariffs for men and women are a thing of the past. As a result, women will have to reckon with higher premiums for term life insurance from 21 December 2012. It is therefore worth their while to take out protection in the case death now, if women are thinking about this type of cover anyway. For men coverage will become cheaper under the new tariffs, but anybody requiring cover now needn’t hesitate to take out insurance with ERGO Direkt: Should the new tariffs indeed prove cheaper, men can easily swap their existing contract for the one with lower premiums.

Following a European Court of Justice decision unequal tariffs for men and women are no longer permissible from 21 December 2012 – only so-called “unisex tariffs” are. Men and women have to pay the same premiums for the same service. “This will, for example, affect women who wish to take out term life insurance after the changeover date,” explains Peter M. Endres, CEO of ERGO Direkt. While up to now, thanks to their longer life expectancy, women have paid lower premiums than men, they will now have to help carry men’s risks. “Women currently planning to make provision for their surviving dependants through a term life policy should by all means do so before 21 December,” Endres advises.

Conversely, on introduction of the unisex tariffs men’s premiums in term life insurance will tend to fall. “However, those currently requiring cover, for example property buyers, should on no account wait just because of potential premium savings,” Endres warns. “Should the death of the main provider occur before that date, then survivors would be hit by a financial as well as a personal catastrophe.” Furthermore, men taking out term life insurance with ERGO Direct before 21 December do not run any risk regarding a potential future premium fall. “That’s because all new contracts contain a so-called unisex option,” Endres explains. “Should, due to the new unisex tariffs, cover become cheaper for men, they can move into the new unisex tariff between January and the end of March 2013 – completely without a renewed health check.”

For further information, please contact:

ERGO Direkt Versicherungen
Corporate Communications
Frank Roth

Tel +49 911 148-1873
Fax +49 800 701-1111
frank.roth@ergodirekt.de
presseservice@ergodirekt.de

ERGO Direkt develops means to combat high dentists’ bills

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 15:57:00 +0200

Press release 30 August 2012

The leading supplementary dental insurer ERGO Direkt wants to save patients from unnecessary extra expenditure. Therefore, in cooperation with the online portal “2te-Zahnarztmeinung.de” (second dentist’s opinion) the direct insurer from Fürth is offering all patients a free service from September: Every patient can compare their dentist’s costs in a simple way and can pick the most competitive one from among a range of cost estimates. With the help of the “Zahnkosten-Optimierer” (dental cost optimizer) patients will be able to save up to thousands of Euros on expensive treatments.

From September ERGO Direkt offers all patients – be they ERGO Direkt customers or not – a free service aimed at making dentists’ costs more transparent. This is an urgently needed measure as, according to German magazine stern’s website stern.de, German dentists are reputedly earning an extra 345 million Euros per year thanks to the new scale of fees in effect since the beginning of the year. “It is unjustified that the prices of a whole industry should be beyond any transparency or competition”, ERGO Direkt CEO Peter M. Endres pointed out.

This is why, from September 2012, ERGO Direkt is starting the transparency initiative “Zahnkosten-Optimierer“(dental cost optimizer). Through the direct insurer patients will be able to obtain alternative cost estimates for necessary dental treatment anonymously and free of charge, thus saving an average of 56 percent of their retention. “With nearly all services one glance on the Internet is enough to find the best price. Dentists, however, like to give the impression that prices are non-negotiable – we are going to change this“, Endres said. He is convinced that patients must have the opportunity to compare dentists’ prices in an easy way and to be able to pick the most competitive one from among a range of offers.

All the patients need to do is send a copy of their treatment and cost plan to ERGO Direkt. After anonymising the data the direct insurer then collects alternative cost estimates from registered dentists in the vicinity of the patient through its partner “2te-Zahnarztmeinung.de”. “These dentists then place their own bid for the treatment and cost plan on our website“, Holger Lehmann, the founder of the dental cost auction portal, explained. “The result is passed on to the patient, who then decides whether they want to contact one of the bidders or whether, on the basis of this comparison, they want to renegotiate the price with their original dentist.” If a patient is interested in a bid, they will receive the contact details of the dentist from ERGO Direkt without entering into any obligation whatsoever.

From September, ERGO Direkt is starting the transparency initiative with a broad-based TV campaign. “It aims at changing patients’ attitudes and behaviours and at demonstrating that even prices at the dentist’s are not cast in stone“, Endres said. The long-term target of the initiative is to establish the principle of the dental cost auction on the whole of the (insurance) market and to make it common practice among patients. “This will lead to significant cost savings both for the patients and ourselves”, Endres explained. “And we want to empower consumers, make them more responsible, and thus offer them help to help themselves.”

In spite of the lower costs there will be no compromising on quality. “We only cooperate with dentists who have their dentures made in Germany and who are committed to first-class individual local service”, Lehman assured. Furthermore, a ratings system will ensure the continuous monitoring of all participants.

For further information, please contact:

ERGO Direkt Versicherungen
Corporate Communications
Frank Roth

Tel +49 911 148-1873
Fax +49 800 701-1111
frank.roth@ergodirekt.de
presseservice@ergodirekt.de

Cancer screening can save lives: einfachanders.de offers women optimal cover for early diagnosis and for illness

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:41:00 +0100

Press release 3 February 2012

Cancer screening can save lives: einfachanders.de offers women optimal cover for early diagnosis and for illness

The best prevention and the best treatment possible for female cancer sufferers: These are the objectives of einfachanders.de. The first insurance portal for women offers a new women’s insurance package consisting of two product components: The product FRAUEN-VORSORGE (prevention for women) targets early cancer diagnosis and supports recovery in the case of illness. The FRAUEN-KRANKENHAUS-PAKET (women’s hospital package) ensures the best hospital treatment for female cancers.

The motto of this year’s World Cancer Day on 4 February is “Together it is possible.” With it, organizations in 86 countries world-wide want to draw public attention to important topics like early cancer diagnosis, cancer research and treatment. Regular screening is especially important for women, because thanks to advanced medical science early cancer diagnosis is improving constantly and can save lives. Costs, however, have to be born privately, at least in part. einfachanders.de, the new insurance portal set up by OTTO FinanzPlus in co-operation with ERGO Direkt and tailored to meet women’s needs, offers a completely new product specifically designed for women. It ensures coverage as needed and relieves at least financial worries.

Two high-performance products for cancer screening and treatment
The tariff type FRAUEN-VORSORGE comprises up to EUR 100 a year for important cancer screenings at the gynaecologist’s. If female cancer is suspected, sufferers receive a daily allowance of EUR 25 while in hospital or in follow-up treatment or ambulant chemotherapy. On top of that, up to EUR 1,000 are paid towards medical aids such as wigs or breast prostheses. In cases of female cancer the FRAUEN-KRANKENHAUS-PAKET offers optional extras without extra costs. For example, it covers treatment by senior doctors and the additional costs for a single or a double room. If no optional extras are chosen, sufferers receive hospital daily benefits. Even women who due to prior conditions are not eligible for supplementary hospital insurance can thus make provisions against female forms of cancer.

Tactile breast examinations by blind persons are subsidised within the product FRAUEN-VORSORGE
Breast cancer is an illness that can affect one in seven women. The outcome depends on when it is discovered. Following a method developed by “discovering hands ®” blind women are trained to become specialized tactile breast examiners (MTU), as they have an extraordinary sense of touch for this type of examination. Under supervision of the doctor responsible for the treatment, the MTU performs a very thorough examination for early diagnosis.

Associate professor Dr. med. Michael P. Lux, senior physician at the gynaecological clinic of the University Hospital in Erlangen, stresses the importance of early diagnosis: „ Early diagnosis and early treatment are vital for survival. Therefore I advise every woman to use the early cancer diagnosis programme at their doctor’s. A new and promising early diagnostic method is “discovering hands ®,” performed by blind examiners. Patients have here an additional method to reassure them and help with early diagnosis. Fortunately, this special tactile examination is paid for within the tariff FRAUEN-VORSORGE.” Which clinics are currently offering breast examinations by blind women according to the system “discovering hands ®”, can be found at www.discovering-hands.de. If cancer is diagnosed after all, the shock is tremendous – in moments like this, financial relief is certainly a big help.

einfachanders.de is a new web portal designed specifically for women’s needs. Communication and design of the platform are transparent, easy-to-understand and professional. Additionally, the employees of OTTO FinanzPlus are happy to advise customers by telephone on the toll-free number 0800/1410191 from Monday to Sunday between 7am and 12midnight.

For further information, please contact:

ERGO Direkt Versicherungen
Corporate Communications
Frank Roth

Tel +49 911 148-1873
Fax +49 800 701-1111
frank.roth@ergodirekt.de
presseservice@ergodirekt.de

About the ERGO Direct Insurance
With over 4.4 million customers ERGO Direkt is Germany‘s most popular direct insurer. The company specializes in simple, easy-to-understand products belonging to the standard requirements of private households. Important products in this context are supplementary dental insurance, longterm care daily benefits, term life insurance and funeral expenses cover. Lean processes and fast processing enable it to offer attractive premiums. Since its foundation the company has been enjoying steady and above-average growth. Today, around 1,900 employees work at the facility in Nuremberg/Fuerth. ERGO Direkt is part of the ERGO Insurance group and thus of Munich Re, one of the leading reinsurers and risk carriers worldwide.
More at www.ergodirekt.de

About the OTTO FinanzPlus
OTTO FinanzPlus GmbH was founded in Hamburg in 2006 and specialises in insurance brokerage. As an enterprise of the Otto Group, the biggest online provider for fashion and lifestyle world-wide, number 2 behind amazon and the undisputed number 1 in Germany, OTTO FinanzPlus commands comprehensive marketing and sales know-how in multi-channel retail. The insurance agency accesses a wealth of experience in direct and dialogue marketing and has excellent knowledge regarding e-commerce. With immediate effect, via the online platform einfachanders.de, OTTO FinanzPlus, in co-operation with ERGO Direkt, brokers special insurance offers for women.

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the management of ERGO Insurance Group. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements given here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation and performance of our Company. The Company assumes no liability to update these forwardlooking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.