HYDERABAD: Insurance companies received 21,836 individual and PMJJBY (Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana) Covid claims amounting to Rs 1,617 crore in FY21 ended March 31, 2021, of which 357 claims amounting to Rs 117 crore remain unsettled, revealed the latest annual report of IRDAI.
Overall, general insurers and standalone health insurers received over 9.5 lakh Covid treatment related claims in 2020-21. In order to help policyholders, IRDAI directed insurers to settle Covid-19 death claims expeditiously and even extended the grace period for payment of premiums due in the months of March and April 2020 up to May 31, 2020.
In fact, with people realising the importance of health insurance, general and health insurance companies collected Rs 58,238 crore as health insurance (excluding personal accident and travel insurance) premium, registering a growth of nearly 15% over the previous year.
The health insurance business is classified into government sponsored health insurance, group health insurance and individual health insurance and in terms of the amount of premium collected, the share of group business was highest (48.26%), followed by individual business (44.37%).
While five states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Delhi UT and Gujarat contributed 66% of the total health insurance premium. In fact, Maharashtra alone contributed Rs 18,354 crore (32%) by way of total health insurance premium.
The net incurred claims of the health insurance business of general and health insurers stood at Rs 40,718 crore in 2020-21 as against Rs 34,058 crore in 2019-20. There is an increase in incurred claims ratio (ICR) of health business from 88.4% in 2019-20 to 93.8% in 2020-21.
