Four of 5 COVID-19 deaths uninsured

MANILA, Philippines — At least four in every five Filipinos who died due to COVID-19 have no insurance coverage that could have provided them with hospitalization benefits.

In a report, the Insurance Commission (IC) said the insurance industry distributed P16.71 billion in COVID-19 payouts as of end-2021, bulk of which or P12.82 billion, was given out last year while P3.89 billion was paid in 2020.

IC commissioner Dennis Funa said more than half of the COVID claims were granted by life insurers to around 9,500 policyholders who succumbed to the virus.

Based on data, the number of covered COVID deaths only accounted for about 19 percent of the estimated 51,000 fatalities due to the virus as of last year. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said this highlights the need to secure an insurance plan to prepare for such events like the pandemic.

Funa said health maintenance organizations (HMOs) came next in terms of COVID payouts, with P6.44 billion. Mutual Benefit Associations (MBAs) and non-life providers, for their part, extended P833 million and P382 million, respectively.

“Notably, the out-patient benefit—meaning people who were not confined in the hospital—have the highest number of claims paid, with 413,000 for the whole of 2021, followed by claims under other benefits at 54,000,” Funa said.

Funa said death benefits comprised more than half, or P6.8 billions of the COVID issuances in 2021, while in-patient benefits, where the claimant was confined in a hospital, amounted to P3.5 billion. Out-patient benefits, meanwhile, reached P1.92 billion.

The IC chief said all four groups of life and non-life firms, HMOs and MBAs managed to keep their premiums steady, exhibiting the financial strength of the sector to absorb the increase in expenses during the pandemic.

According to the IC, COVID benefits made up just around three percent of the total P120.76 billion claims in 2020. On the other hand, COVID releases accounted for over 11 percent of the P112.19 billion benefit payments as of the third quarter last year.

Still, industry profit grew by more than 31 percent to P37.5 billion in the nine months to September 2021. Likewise, the net worth of insurance firms went up by around three percent to P371.89 billion.

“So despite this, the insurance and HMO industries remain resilient and, in fact, all four sectors posted net income for the third quarter of 2021,” Funa said.

Insurance penetration or the industry’s contribution in economic output has gone up to a record 2.03 percent due to the rising demand for insurance coverage during the pandemic.