Insurance companies, health maintenance organizations (HMO) and mutual benefit associations (MBA) paid out P2.93 billion in new coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)- related claims for the first quarter of the year, double than the payout in the same period in 2021 according to the Insurance Commission (IC).
IC said since the start of the pandemic, total COVID-19-related claims paid by insurers, HMOs and MBAs already amounts to P19.64 billion as of March.
Of that amount, P12.82 billion or 65 percent was paid in 2021, P3.89 billion or 20 percent was paid in 2020 while P2.93 billion or 15 percent was paid from January to March 2022.
COVID-19-related claims paid during the first quarter exceeded the amount paid during the same period of the previous year by 119.95 percent.
For the first quarter, life insurance companies paid P1.79 billion in claims; non-life insurance firms, P145 million; HMOs, P948 million; and MBAs paid P49.4 million.
In January, when the COVID-19 cases breached the 700,000-mark, claims paid for hit almost P1.2 billion, then dropped to P1 billion in February and P700 million in March, coinciding with the decline in COVID-19 cases, the IC said.
During the months of January to March 2022, 56.43 percent of the total P2.93 billion paid by life and non-life insurers, HMOs, and MBAs pertained to death benefits, amounting to P1.65 billion. This is followed by out-patient benefits, amounting to P594.80 million or 20.31 percent of the total amount.
Insurers, HMOs and MBAs also paid P410.70 million in in-patient claims worth P2.93 billion.
The most the number of claims from January to March were for out-patient benefits with 171,823 out of a total of 206,806, the IC said.
This is followed by 13,020 claims for other benefits (e.g., emergency care, financial assistance benefits, etc.) and 6,518 claims for medical reimbursement benefits.
Majority of the claims paid by both the life insurance and MBA industries pertain to death benefits, while those by HMOs pertain to out-patient benefits, and those by the non-life insurance industry pertain to business interruption benefits, IC said.
As for the aggregate amounts paid per industry from the start of the pandemic in 2020 until March 31, 2022, life insurers lead the pack with P10.84 billion in COVID-19-related claims paid, constituting 55 percent of the P19.64 billion total,” the IC said.
The HMO industry follows with P7.39 billion in payments, constituting 37 percent of the total, while MBAs and the non-life industry paid 5 percent and 3 percent of the total P12.12 billion, respectively, which amount to P882 million for MBAs and P527 million for non-life insurers.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa said despite the large payouts for COVID-19 related claims, the life and non-life insurance, HMO and MBA industries remain resilient.
“We noted in comparison that the P2.93 billion COVID-19-related claims paid by said industries only constituted 2 percent of the P172.5 billion total benefit payments made by these industries in 2021,” Funa said. – Ruelle Castro
