COVID-19: More People Opting For Health Insurance, Says Survey

New Delhi: Coronavirus has given a fillip to the insurance companies. An increasing number of people are showing interest in buying health policies, especially those that cover new age diseases.

While only 10 per cent of people were interested in buying health insurance to cover new age diseases in India before the COVID-19 outbreak, now at least 71 per cent consider health insurance as a necessity to be future-ready to fight unforeseen medical emergencies, reported Financial Express (FE) quoting a Max Bupa COVID-19 survey.

The survey was conducted across 11 cities including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Pune, Patna, Jaipur, and Chandigarh.

In a remarkable shift, 58 per cent participants called themselves to enquire about and understand coronavirus coverage and  73 per cent of the respondents are willing to pay more premium in the next 1-2 months to a COVID-19 cover, reported FE.

Other key revelations of the survey:

• Respondents are more worried about high medical cost rather than expenses for children’s education and marriage, post-retirement life and wellbeing of family members.
• Women have come to the forefront. During the early outbreak of the pandemic, as against 54 per cent men, around 62 per cent women enquired about the coverage of Covid-19 in health plans as about 96 per cent women respondents were concerned whether the insurance plans would cover the hospitalisation expenses related to coronavirus treatment.
• Millennials (age 27-35) are more aware of health insurance plans and 72 per cent are willing to pay more for COVID-19 coverage and are planning to purchase health insurance immediately.