In a groundbreaking partnership that redefines financial inclusion, Pride Bank Limited Uganda and Jubilee Health Insurance Company of Uganda have launched PrideCare, a savings account with embedded health insurance cover.
This strategic collaboration, announced on Wednesday this week by the Jubilee Insurance Chief Executive Officer, Dan Musiime, is not merely a new banking product; it represents a powerful fusion of financial discipline and health security, fundamentally altering the insurance landscape and addressing one of Uganda’s most critical development challenges: the vulnerability of families to catastrophic medical costs.
Savings as a Security Net
For decades, the most common financial shock that derails livelihoods in Uganda has been unexpected illness. Families are often forced to liquidate assets, incur crippling debt, or withdraw essential savings meant for education or business investment to pay for medical care. However, PrideCare is here to tackle this dilemma head-on.
As Musiime noted, this partnership is a “powerful meeting point between financial security and health protection.” The mechanics of PrideCare are elegantly simple and brilliantly effective:
Embedded Cover
Customers who maintain a minimum balance of Shs100,000 in their Pride Bank savings account automatically qualify for medical insurance coverage from Jubilee Health Insurance.
Rewarding Discipline
Every consistent act of saving now carries the dual benefit of financial growth and protection from common medical expenses.
Veronicah Gladys Namagembe, the Managing Director of Pride Bank Limited Uganda, emphasised that PrideCare is ‘not just a banking product’, noting that by making health insurance automatic with financial discipline, the product ensures that building financial strength simultaneously translates into vital social and health security for families.
Addressing Uganda’s Insurance Gap
Uganda’s insurance penetration remains among the lowest in East Africa, largely due to high costs, complex processes, and a general lack of trust. According to Musiime, the PrideCare model is a game-changer because it eliminates these traditional barriers through;
Seamless Access (No Paperwork)
The insurance is embedded, meaning customers don’t have to navigate separate sign-up processes, deductibles, or premium payments, which often intimidate first-time buyers.
Affordability by Design
The cost is effectively tied to an achievable minimum savings balance (Shs100,000), linking the protection to a positive financial habit rather than a separate, burdensome premium.
Trust and Dignity
As Irene Oloya, CEO of Padre Pio Insurance Brokers Limited, highlighted, this initiative builds a Uganda where “every shilling saved brings not only financial growth, but also dignity, resilience, and care.” It ensures that illness does not automatically lead to poverty.
Blueprint for True Financial Inclusion
This collaboration is a testament to what is possible when the finance and insurance sectors move beyond traditional silos to focus on a shared purpose, which is empowering Ugandans to live healthier, more secure, and financially stable lives.
By leveraging Pride Bank’s extensive reach and long-standing commitment to financial inclusion for over 30 years, Jubilee is delivering health protection to the mass market efficiently and sustainably.
This model of Bancassurance, delivering insurance through a bank’s platform, is poised to become a core strategy for achieving greater social security across the continent.
It proves that inclusion is not just about access to banking or insurance individually, but about creating an ecosystem that gives people the peace of mind to live free from the constant fear of financial ruin caused by a medical emergency.
The partnership, facilitated by Padre Pio Insurance Brokers, establishes a new blueprint: the financial sector is now actively innovating to build resilience from the ground up, one savings account at a time.