Non-Covid health claims witness high demand

Mumbai: Leading health insurers are seeing a sharp increase in non-Covid-19 related medical claims in July and August, suggesting that patients are slowly returning to hospitals to resume non-essential procedures they had deferred during the initial months of the lockdown. Claims on account of procedures for digestive, psychiatric, musculoskeletal, ophthalmic, ENT, injury, pulmonary and skin conditions had all fallen drastically in April and May, mainly because patients had delayed treatments fearing contagion at hospitals. Insurers monitoring the data at top health insurance companies told ET that they are seeing these claims being reported with an increased frequency in July and August, amid surging Covid-19 claims as well. According to Krishnan Ramachandran, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, there has been a 30-35% monthly spike in non-Covid-19 claims on account of planned treatments such as maternity, dialysis, chronic diseases, chemotherapy, and heart-related ailments from April. “In July alone, almost 80-90% of the claims were non-Covid related,” said Ramachandran. “Although the numbers are less as compared to previous quarters, people are still avoiding going to the hospitals unless necessary, but claims have gradually started coming in.”For comparison, in April, Max Bupa had seen claims on account of unavoidable conditions such as genitourinary system (highest for chronic renal failure), cancer and childbirth, the claims for these respective illnesses dropped by 40%, 42% and 45% as against March. 77582176The trends were mirrored by non-life insurers with sizeable medical portfolios. Bhaskar Nerurkar, head- health claims at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance said that the average daily medical claims in July against March and April has gone up by 64%. “We are definitely experiencing a surge in other treatment categories than covid-19. Delayed surgeries and infections have started being reported,” said Nerurkar, adding that procedures such cataract surgeries and knee replacements are resuming as well. Meanwhile, experts also said that increased outdoor activities and road traffic are also contributing to a surge in claims. “One of the reasons is a spike in road accidents and outdoor mishaps which had reduced drastically during the lockdown months,” said Amit Chhabra, head of health insurance, PolicyBazaar. As on August 11, the reported outgo on account of Covid-19 has exceeded Rs 1,600 crore, latest industry data showed, with more than 1 lakh claims. However, the latest data from IRDAI also suggest that the demand for health insurance is also driving new business for health insurers. The premium underwritten for standalone health players for the month of July was 40% higher than the same period last year.

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