COVID-19 insurance payments hit P21 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The insurance industry has already released almost P21 billion in total COVID payouts to policyholders who were infected by the virus since the pandemic started.

Data from the Insurance Commission showed that insurers issued P20.82 billion in COVID benefits from the start of the pandemic in March 2020 until end-June this year.

In the second quarter of 2022 alone, COVID-related payouts made by life and non-life insurers, health maintenance organizations (HMOs), and mutual benefit associations (MBAs) reached P1.18 billion.

Of the total P20.8 billion, life insurers gave out more than half of the payouts, at P11.72 billion or 56 percent of the total.

This was followed by HMOs with P7.65 billion while MBAs and non-life firms paid out P897 million and P560 million in COVID-related benefits, respectively.

For the April to June 2022 period, life insurers continue to get the chunk of COVID payouts at P877 million or 74 percent.

The IC said COVID-related claims paid by its regulated entities in the first half reflected the number of new COVID cases in the country during the said period.

“The figures reveal that when the total number of new COVID cases breached the 700,000-mark for the month of January 2022, claims paid for said month amounted to approximately P1.2 billion,” the IC said.

During the months of February to May, the amount of COVID-related claims steadily decreased as new cases decreased. However, claims paid slightly increased between the months of May and June, notwithstanding the generally downward trend,” it said.

By type, a little over 70 percent of the second quarter payouts at P842 million were issued for policyholders who died from the virus.

Another P141 million was registered as out-patient benefits and P139 million was credited as in-patient claims.

In terms of volume, however, claims for out-patient benefits comprised 32,963 out of the total of 42,767. It was followed by 2,949 claims for other benefits such as emergencies and financial assistance.

The IC said the insurance industry remains stable as growth parameters showed positive performance year-on-year.

This as industry assets are now more than P2 trillion while its net worth grew to P393 billion.