1993-1995

The original idea for ABC Medicover came from Bengt Beckmann, a Swedish entrepreneur who had developed a healthcare service business in Kenya, named Africa Air Rescue (AAR). Bengt’s wife Maria was Polish, and when her parents became ill he accompanied her to Poland and saw for himself the low quality of healthcare services available. That was the motivation for his decision to launch a healthcare business in Poland.

The original team

Jonas af Jochnick, a founder of cosmetics company Oriflame invests in ABC Medicover. Jonas brings with him Fredrik Rågmark, current CEO Medicover Group.

The first clinic

The first clinic opens in Warsaw in August 1995.

A totally new concept

The ABC Medicover introduces a totally new healthcare model based on prepaid healthcare subscriptions offered to companies.

All under one roof

The ABC Medicover principle is “…all under one roof…” meaning access to medical specialists, laboratory and diagnostic facilities, multilingual medical staff, convenient locations and easy parking.

Passion for quality

Bengt Beckmann, passionate about quality and convinced that each client should be treated as an individual, recruits a waitress as one of the first salespeople as he is impressed by her client service.

Empowerment

ABC Medicover has no services outside Warsaw so it responds to an emergency in southern Poland, renting a helicopter to save Unilever Country Manager’s family member - the cost is equal to the entire marketing budget for the first year.
Unilever remains a Medicover client to this day.

Overseas expertise

As the Medicover business model is totally new in Central Europe, the Medicover investors find an International Strategic Partner - Community Health Plan (CHP) – to help grow the business.

CHP, founded by Warren Paley, has 25 years of experience. Warren, originally a farmer, whose wife has a serious medical condition is so unhappy with her treatment experience that he decides to spend the rest of his working life, developing a high quality and patient orientated healthcare system. This is the origin of CHP.

Innovative marketing

With the support of CHP Medicover soon became a pioneer of innovative marketing in Polish healthcare.

Medicover's new logo

Warren Paley was also a contributor to the company rebranding. Thanks to his input, Medicover became the company’s official name and a new logo was introduced.

The first version was drafted on a piece of napkin, in the clouds, somewhere between the US and Poland. The original Medicover logo (Warren's version), had the word Medicover written across the top of the figure of the little man beneath it. This was significant to Warren because to him it portrayed the company's emphasis on complete "coverage and caring" for the individual.