Insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and mutual benefit associations (MBAs) paid P8.23 billion in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related claims in January to September 2021, according to a survey conducted by the Insurance Commission (IC).
In a statement, the IC said HMOs constitute 45 percent of the total COVID-19 claim payouts in the first nine months of the previous year, amounting to P3.68 billion.
Life insurers paid 48 percent of the total COVID-19-related claims for the same period, which amounts to P3.99 billion, while non-life insurers paid 2 percent and MBAs paid 5 percent, amounting to P180 million and P377.1 million, respectively.
“Since the start of the pandemic until September 30, 2021, total COVID-19-related claims paid by the life and non-life insurance industries, HMOs and MBAs reached P12.12 billion.
Of this amount, 68% percent was paid in the first three quarters of 2021, while P3.89 billion, or 32 percent, was paid in 2020,” Dennis Funa, insurance commissioner, said.
“The claims paid during the first three quarters of 2021 is already more than double of the total claims paid for the year 2020,” he added.
According to the IC, 126 out of 147 licensed entities responded to the survey, translating to an 85.71 percent participation rate.
The survey revealed that when the number of new COVID-19 cases passed the 500,000-mark in September 2021, the amount of COVID-19-related claims paid by insurers, HMOs and MBAs increased which approximated to more than P1.4 billion.
“The figures we obtained reflect that the claims paid increased drastically from February to April 2021, dipped slightly during the months of May, June and July, and then spiked in August to September of the same year,” Funa said.
“In both 2020 and the first three quarters of 2021, claims for death benefits has the highest amount of COVID-19-related claims paid by insurers, HMOs and MBAs, followed by in-patient benefits and out-patient benefits,” he also said. (Malaya Business Insights News)
