Insurance claims related to COVID-19 amounted to P2.93 billion in the first quarter of this year, with life insurance benefits accounting for 61 percent or P1.79 billion of the payouts, according to data from the Insurance Commission (IC).

IC Commissioner Dennis Funa said in his report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III that 32 percent or P948 million of these claims were from the health maintenance organizations (HMO) sector; while non-life insurance payouts accounted for 5 percent or P145 million; and mutual benefit associations (MBAs), 2 percent or P49.4 million.

“These claims were for death, hospitalization, outpatient, and other benefits,” said Funa in his report during a recent Department of Finance (DOF) Executive Committee (Execom) meeting.

The IC said 20 percent, or P3.89 billion, of COVID-related claims were paid from the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020 up to end-2020. Meanwhile, 65 percent, or P12.82 billion, were paid in 2021; and 15 percent, or 2.93 billion, in the 1st quarter of 2022.

From 2020 until 1st Quarter of 2022, COVID-19 related Insurance claims reached P19.64 billion, with payments made by the life insurance industry accounting for more than half or around P10.84 billion of the payouts.

Funa said the rest of the pandemic-related insurance claims from 2020 to the 1st quarter of 2022 were from HMOs with a 37 percent share at P7.39 billion, MBAs with a 5 percent share at P882 million, and non-life policies with 3 percent or P527 million.

Of the total pay-out of all COVID-19-related insurance benefits, the amount P9.72 billion in claims corresponds to about 33,624 death benefits.

He said during the Execom meeting that while COVID-19-related claims in 2020 and 2021 appear to be a staggering amount, they account for only 10 percent of the total benefit payments during these years.

COVID-related claims made up only 3 percent of payouts in 2020, and 7 percent in 2021.

In 2020, payouts for other benefit claims amounted to P120.76 billion or 97 percent of the total payouts, Funa said.

For 2021, he noted that the insurance industry paid P159.68 billion in claims unrelated to COVID-19, or 93 percent of the total payouts for the year.

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