Covid-19 forced the entire world to stay within the confines of their home and not venture out even to their workplaces. The pandemic has affected almost all industries and businesses like retail, finance, hospitality, travel, transportation, and a lot of others.
Health insurance in India will also undergo a significant change because of this pandemic.
This was sort of a black swan event, something no one expected or planned for. Thus it caught not only individuals but also the national Governments unawares. As no one had faced such a crisis before, everyone was clueless about handling it.
What can you do?
One important thing that you can do right now is to communicate with your health insurance provider and check on your coverage. If the disease is not covered, buy a rider or a new plan and get coverage for this illness.
People are also realizing the importance of health insurance as they face the rising costs of medical services, which are becoming extremely expensive.
Another thing that people should do is if they have still not taken a health insurance plan should buy one immediately. Delay will only lead to an increase in premium, forcing you to shell out a much higher amount later.
Impact of COVID 19 on Health Insurers
The pandemic wreaked havoc in most of the developed countries of the world. In India, too, an increasing number of people are expected to be using their insurance coverage for hospitalization and medical expenses.
This can lead to additional pressure on insurers with more claims to settle and would affect future insurance plans as well as their premiums.
How Covid-19 pandemic can affect health insurance plan includes;
1. Higher Premium for future insurance plans
As an increasing number of people make use of their health insurance plans to get cover for medical emergencies, health insurers will have to find ways to cope with this unexpected rise in claims.
A natural response would be to increase the premium amount to compensate for this unpredicted increase in claims ratio. This could potentially increase the premium charges for the customers who would be buying insurance in the post-COVID situation.
2. Increased demand for Health Insurance
The COVID-19 could also bring some good news for the companies in the health insurance sector as they may witness newer customers taking the security cover against possible future illness. This will not only increase their revenue but could also compensate for the lost profitability.
3. Customized Policies
Health insurers may also contemplate using technologies to design custom policies for customers based on their previous health history.
Someone with better immunity and lifestyle may get the advantage of lesser premium as the possibility of claims would also be lesser.
The insurers may also enter into a tie-up with the government to provide insurance covers in cases where communities may get affected because of individual illness. Like when an entire neighborhood has to be quarantined and tested even if one person tests positive for coronavirus.
4. More personal/individual policies
Rising job losses also lead to the loss of insurance cover. People going forward may be more inclined to buy their insurance cover to cushion for unexpected job loss.
With the economy not growing as expected, and people still waiting to get back their jobs, they will be forced to buy health security, which is not contingent upon them being employed.
The changing trend will also lead to more individual policies being sold in addition to the group coverage provided by the employers. Most people would go for the twin security - cover from the employer as well as their health insurance.