Doctors Hospital announced today it has signed an agreement with Affinity Insurance Agency, the company recently acquired by Simplified Lending Limited, to handle its new membership program aimed at providing affordable primary health care options on a membership basis.

Affinity Insurance Agency is part of the Simplified Group of Companies that will collaborate with Doctors Hospital to encourage Bahamians to increase focus on preventative health care and healthier lifestyle through benefits of Doctors Hospital’s specially designed program.

That program, Loyalty Advantage Membership Program, or LAMP for short, was designed to make health care more affordable without consideration of age, financial status or the most prohibitive of all qualifications – pre-existing conditions.

Membership plans start at as low as $14 a week, inclusive of VAT and fees, per individual with members entitled to primary care visits, in-hospital discounts, fee waivers and other ‘rewards’ or $11.20 a week for plans supplementing existing insurance coverage. Primary care LAMP plans are not intended to replace health insurance coverage for catastrophic events or to cover the costs associated with long-term illness.

“We are honoured that Doctors Hospital selected Affinity as an official sales partner in this important initiative that we believe has the capacity to make a real difference in the health and well-being of Bahamian citizens and residents,” said Affinity’s Managing Director Patrice Rolle. “We all witnessed the impact of COVID 19 on The Bahamas because of the high rate of comorbidities in the population – diabetes, obesity, heart disease, kidney conditions. For many, it was a serious wake-up call and we hope that access to affordable primary care through LAMP will encourage more people than ever before to seek basic health care, assess their current status and commit to healthy lifestyle habits.”

“One of our goals, particularly in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, is to make Doctors Hospital more accessible,” said Doctors Hospital Chief Financial Officer Mr. Dennis Deveaux. “Our Loyalty Advantage Membership program is just one of a number of initiatives aimed at achieving this goal. This is evidenced by the fact that LAMP membership does not require a medical history and is not limited based on pre-existing conditions.”

Affinity’s Managing Director also noted that the membership program can help bridge the gap for small and medium-sized businesses that find standard health insurance coverage out of their financial reach.

“Through LAMP, that business owner or manager can increase employee loyalty, improve employee engagement, reduce turnover, improve staff morale, boost productivity, also lowering costs and increasing profit, enhance view of organization as being a long term viable and stable organization to work for and demonstrate to key stakeholders that the company does more for its employees,” said Rolle.

Doctors Hospital, which introduced LAMP in June 2020, said the program has attracted a significant number of new members, but hopes its connection with Affinity will cause those numbers to jump.