The regulator had allowed insurance companies to come up with Corona Kavach, an indemnity plan that will cover all the hospitalisation expenses.
With steady rise in the number of Covid-19 cases in India and huge demand for the pandemic-specific policies — Corona Rakshak and Corona Kavach — the insurance regulator is looking to further increase the timelines of both the policies. Currently, insurance companies are allowed to sell those policies only for 3.5 months, 6.5 months and 9.5 months.
Speaking at the ASSOCHAM’s National E-Summit—Health Insurance Under Covid Attack, T L Alamelu, member (Non-Life) of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) said they were looking to issue instructions on how both the policies could be mainstreamed or renewed.
The regulator had allowed insurance companies to come up with Corona Kavach, an indemnity plan that will cover all the hospitalisation expenses. The sum insured in Corona Kavach policy ranges from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh. Corona Rakshak is a fixed benefit plan in which if a policyholder is diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalised for three days, a fixed amount (which is sum insured) will be paid by the insurance
companies.
“Public awareness on the need of health insurance has grown exponentially in the past few months. We have been tracking the growth of Corona Kavach policy, which was launched on July 10, and initially it saw huge growth. Even now, week on week, there is 15% growth on Corona Kavach policy and most of the investors are buying the policy for 9.5 months,” said Alamelu. From July till August-end, over 15 lakh lives were covered under both the Covid-19 specific policies.
Even as there has been pickup in the Corona-specific cover, claims from the pandemic have also seen an upward trend. Senior officials in the insurance industry said general insurance companies had received 2.07 lakh claims amounting to Rs 3,255 crore as on September 10. Maharashtra has the highest number of claims, followed by Tamil Nadu. So far, insurers have settled over 1.30 lakh claims, amounting to over Rs 1,261 crore.
Insurance companies have received over 84,401 claims from Maharashtra, amounting to Rs 1,076 crore, revealed data from the General Insurance Council. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have seen around 24,155 and 17,800 claims, respectively.
Source: www.financialexpress.com
