Insurance companies and health maintenance organizations paid out P1.53 billion in COVID-related claims in the second half of 2022, down from P7.65 billion a year ago, the Insurance Commission said Wednesday.
It said insurers and HMOs paid a total of 137,478 COVID-related claims in the period, a sharp decline from 359,622 claims a year earlier as the number of COVID-19 cases also dropped.
A survey conducted by the commission showed the number of claims paid in the second half of 2022 “tracked the declining trend of COVID-19 cases during the said period.”
The Department of Health reported that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the second half of 2022 fell to 287,229 from the 1,112,477 cases in the same period in 2021.
COVID-related claim payouts made by life insurance companies amounted to P987 million, while HMOs paid out P483 million.
Meanwhile, mutual benefit associations and non-life insurers paid out a total of P33 million.
About 124 respondent companies participated in the commission’s survey on COVID-19-related claims in the period.
These included 28 out of 32 licensed life insurers, 43 out of 54 non-life insurers, 29 out of 33 MBAs and 24 out of 29 HMOs.
The Insurance Commission has conducted semestral surveys among regulated entities on their COVID-related claims payouts since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.
Based on the surveys, the insurance industry paid out P22.36 billion in COVID-related claims from 2020 to 2022.
COVID-related claims paid amounted to P3.89 billion in 2020, P12.82 billion in 2021 and P5.65 billion in 2022.