JOIN USK'taka submitted third-highest number of Covid insurance claims in India: Data
Karnataka, one of the 11 states of concern as far as Covid caseload goes, submitted the third-highest number of insurance claims for its Covid bills, according to data from the General Insurance Council (GIC) of India.
Till April 1 from the start of the pandemic, the state made 75,938 claims, amounting to more than Rs 1,136 crore after Maharashtra (Rs 4,345 crore), and Gujarat (Rs 1,922 crore).
Bengaluru, with the highest Covid caseload, made the highest number of claims -- 15,299 -- amounting to Rs 210 crore. The average claim amount was Rs 1.37 lakh. This is followed by Udupi (790 claims amounting to more than Rs 7.95 crore) and Mysuru (592 amounting to more than Rs 6.36 crore).
As per Project Jeevan Raksha, an initiative of Proxima, supported by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), which did the analysis of the data from the GIC, only 13% of the population has health insurance. Most patients pay out-of-pocket for hospitalisation bills if they are not eligible under any state-sponsored health scheme.
Mysore Sanjeev, convenor, Project Jeeva Raksha, told DH, “Shockingly, there is a 75-80% difference in the average claim between districts in Karnataka. For instance, in Mysuru, the average reported claim is Rs 1.07 lakh, whereas in Belagavi, Chitradurga and Vijayapura, it is Rs 1.75 lakh and in Yadgir, it is Rs 1.84 lakh.”
Yadgir District Health Officer Dr Indumati Kamshetty told DH that out of 10,992 Covid cases that the district has seen since the start of the pandemic, only 16 having raised claims (amounting to more than Rs 29.46 lakh) and that too from the private sector is a small number. At least eight must be from a local MLA’s family, which should be quite affordable for them, she said.
Ironically, claims from these districts are higher than in Bengaluru Urban at Rs 1.36 lakh, which should have ideally been the other way round because of the cost of running a hospital in terms of rent, manpower, and other administrative expenses in a metropolitan city is significantly higher.
“There are several instances where a large number of Covid patients have had to pay over Rs 10 lakh towards hospitalisation. The family members have to borrow and also exhaust their life-long savings to meet the hospitalisation charges,” Mysore added.
“The huge variation in average claim amount clearly indicates that the local administration has failed to monitor and regulate the Covid treatment pricing in accordance with the guidelines issued by the state government. The elected representatives need to protect the interest of the people,” he said.