Insurance claim payouts related to the Covid-19 hit P1.18 billion in the second quarter of the year, based on the latest survey by the Insurance Commission.
Insurance Commissioner Dennis B. Funa said that bulk of the pandemic-related claim payments or P877.3 million, from April to June were made by life insurers.
Meanwhile, health maintenance organizations (HMOs) cornered 22 percent of the total claims amounting to P258.4 million.
Non-life insurers and mutual benefit associations (MBAs), on the other hand, paid P32.6 million and P14.9 million, respectively.
Since the start of the pandemic, total Covid-19-related claims paid by life and non-life insurance companies, HMOs, and MBAs reached P20.82 billion.
Of that amount, P12.82 billion or 61 percent was paid in 2021, while P3.89 billion or 19 percent was paid in 2020. A total P4.11 billion or 20 percent was paid in the first half of 2022.
As for the aggregate amounts paid per industry, life insurers lead the pack with P11.72 billion, constituting 56 percent of the total, followed by HMOs with P7.65 billion in payments or 36 percent.
Meanwhile, MBAs and the non-life insurers paid P896.80 million and P560 million, respectively.
While claims paid by the industry amounted to P20.82 billion, Funa noted that this has minimal impact on the sector’s growth.
"Despite this payout, the insurance industry remains stable as growth parameters showed positive performance year-on-year,” Funa said.
The insurance industry assets are now more than P2 trillion, which increased 12 percent between the first-quarter 2021 and 2022, while the industry’s net worth also grew by 24.27 percent to P393 billion during the same period.
Meanwhile, the aggregate paid-up capital and guaranty fund of the insurers and MBAs also expanded by 9.75 percent to P5.90 billion, respectively.
“While it may be arguable that Covid-19-related claims only account for a small portion of benefits paid by our regulated entities, the impact of these benefit payments was undoubtedly felt by our fellow Filipinos especially when they needed these benefits,” Funa added.