Vendor’s Heartbreak Turns to Hope With CashKO Payout

Lolita Lugasan lost her husband and, with him, whatever savings her family had left after his medical care drained their finances. But within days, a claim from CashKO arrived, giving her the breathing room to grieve without falling into crisis.

The market vendor’s story is one of millions now unfolding across the Philippines, where CashKO, a subsidiary of InsurTech company RuralNet, has quietly built a microinsurance network protecting over 6.1 million underserved Filipinos across 81 provinces.

A Widow’s Story Shows What “Made-to-Measure” Insurance Really Means

Lugasan accessed CashKO’s coverage through a local lending partner after her husband’s sudden passing. With the family’s savings already exhausted from prior medical bills, she said the payout arrived fast enough to make a real difference.

“Makalipas ang ilang araw matapos mamatay ang asawa ko, mabilis kong nakuha ang claim. Ramdam mo na may nag-aalaga sa iyo, may malasakit,” she said.

The timing carried extra weight. The payout arrived the day before what would have been her husband’s birthday. Lugasan split the money in two: half for a small remembrance meal, half reinvested into her business to keep it running.

“‘Yung nakuha ko sa CashKO, kinabukasan, nataon na birthday niya. Hinati ko ‘yun. Yung kalahati, ipinanghanda ko. Pero yung kalahati, inilagay ko sa negosyo ko para may umiikot akong puhunan,” she said.

Her experience reflects exactly what CashKO was built to do. Unlike traditional one-size-fits-all insurance products that stay out of reach for low-income households, CashKO’s plans are structured specifically to cover final medical liabilities and funeral expenses, acting as an immediate financial shock absorber for families before other support can arrive.

Behind the Payout: A Tech-Driven Push to Close the Protection Gap

Stories like Lugasan’s are becoming more common as CashKO scales its reach. The company’s plans are co-designed with rural banks, cooperatives, and microfinance lenders to match the income patterns and risk exposure of specific communities, rather than applying a blanket policy nationwide.

“Financial protection should be within everyone’s reach. It should not be a luxury, but a necessity,” said Justin Arcenas, founder and CEO of RuralNet Inc. “Our microinsurance service is tailored to the unique needs of Filipino households, moving away from rigid, traditional insurance and instead co-designing ‘made-to-measure’ plans with local institutions. By leveraging technology, we are helping more Filipino families build genuine financial resilience and long-term peace of mind, so that losing a breadwinner doesn’t mean starting back at zero.”

That mission is backed by real infrastructure. RuralNet’s proprietary digital platform has streamlined the end-to-end claims process, maintaining a 97% claims approval rate while paying out 75% faster than the industry average — speed that matters most for low-income families who need immediate cash to avoid predatory emergency loans.

The stakes are significant. About 67% of adult Filipinos say staying healthy and avoiding illness is their most urgent personal concern, yet national insurance penetration remains stuck at just 2%. For informal workers and rural communities, a single medical emergency can trigger a debt spiral that wipes out years of financial progress.

CashKO has responded by building out a network of more than 5,000 partner branches across 81 provinces, letting rural banks, cooperatives, and microfinance institutions offer insurance directly through services people already use. That infrastructure has made CashKO the operational core of RuralNet’s broader push to close the country’s insurance gap — one claim, and one family, at a time.