COVID-19 insurance payments hit P12 billion

MANILA, Philippines — The insurance industry has paid more than P12 billion in COVID-19 claims, of which nearly P5 billion was paid to families of policy holders who died from coronavirus-related illnesses.

The Insurance Commission (IC) said that insurers released a total of P12.12 billion in COVID-related benefits from end-2020 to September 2021.

Based on IC data, death benefits made up more than 39 percent or P4.76 billion of the pandemic claims, followed by in-patient benefits at P3.87 billion and out-patient benefits at P2.42 billion.

According to the IC, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) accounted for the lion’s share of the payouts at P5.6 billion. Life insurers contributed P5.46 billion of the total, while mutual benefit associations (MBAs) and non-life firms released P732 million and P340.2 million, respectively.

In the third quarter last year, COVID payouts amounted to 3.88 billion, nearly half of which at P1.87 billion went to death claims. In-patient benefits comprised almost 32 percent of the sum at P1.23 billion, while out-patient benefits took up close to 16 percent at P613.9 million.

IC Commissioner Dennis Funa said insurers paid P1.4 billion in COVID claims in September.

“The figures we obtained reflect that the claims paid increased drastically from February to April 2021, dipped slightly during the months of May, June and July, and then spiked in the August to September period of the same year,” Funa said.

As the case count hit 1.6 million on Aug. 1, 2021, the country posted close to one million new infections in the next 60 days to reach 2.55 million by the close of September.

The industry covered P8.23 billion in COVID-19 payouts as of September 2021. The IC said the bulk of the claims were financed by HMOs (P3.99 billion) and life insurers (P3.68 billion), while the remainder was funded by MBAs (P377.1 million) and non-life firms (P180 million).

“Despite the challenges and risks posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and substantial increase in COVID-19 claims, life and non-life insurers, HMOs and MBAs remain financially resilient,” Funa said, adding that “such performance proves our regulated industries’ capability not only to withstand, but even to expand, in the face of unprecedented crisis.”