Covid-19 insurance claims: Karnataka among top 5

Among the 90,000 insurance claims received for Covid-19 in India, Karnataka's Covid patients have made the fifth highest number of claims with 6,800 claims, revealed Sashidharan Nair, Technical Advisor (Health) of the General Insurance Council to DH.

Understandably, Maharashtra with the highest number of Coronavirus cases, made 44,000 Covid insurance claims followed by Tamil Nadu with 12,000, Delhi 10,000 and Gujarat 7,600. Considering the tech population of the state, a lot of them have corporate insurance covers and hence the higher percentage of insured population.

Earlier this month, amid spurt in Covid-19 cases in the country, the insurance regulator IRDAI mandated all insurers to launch Corona Kavach health insurance policy for both individuals and families. This is a standard policy created specifically to provide health insurance for coronavirus treatment.

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Dr Sashidharan Nair told DH, "The claims depend on the insured population. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat have relatively higher proportion of insured population. Karnataka has software companies and industries where there is corporate insurance. Wherever there are more MNCs, people are well-placed. The lower strata of the population cannot afford to pay premiums. Covid Kavach offers coverage upto Rs. 3 lakh."

Krishnan Ramachandran, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, told DH that at Max Bupa, has received over 2,300 Covid related claims so far, of which 8-10% of claims have been received from Karnataka from cities like Bangalore, Mysore, etc.

Eighty percent of the people who have purchased the policy, Corona Kavach, so far have opted for 9.5 months duration, 15% customers have opted for 6.5 months period and 5% have taken the policy for 3.5 months.

"Our internal data shows that customers from Bangalore and Hyderabad are prioritising health insurance purchase much more as compared to other cities. We have seen a 90% growth in health insurance policies being purchased online in the city which shows that Bangaloreans are prioritizing health insurance purchase in light of Covid," Ramachandran said.

Further, as per a Covid-19 survey done by the company recently, it found that 57% of people in Bengaluru have a strong preference for comprehensive health insurance plans for protection against any unforeseen medical emergencies.

"Earlier only 21% people were interested in purchasing health insurance to protect against new-age diseases and medical emergencies, whereas now 70% of the people surveyed consider health insurance as a necessity in being more prepared to fight unforeseen pandemic like Covid-19," he added.

The survey also found that 73% of the respondents are willing to pay more premium to get coverage for Covid-19.