People in Taiwan who hold infectious disease insurance policies do not need to rush to file claims amid the spike in COVID-19 cases, as their rights are fully protected, the Financial Supervisory Commission said Saturday.
As long as the claims filed for COVID-19 infections are legitimate, the insurers will have to pay their clients, in accordance with the terms of the policies they hold, FSC Chairman Huang Tien-mu (???) said.
“We will make sure policy holders are protected,” Huang said at the daily press briefing of the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), in response to concerns over the impact of the current COVID-19 spike on insurers.
He said the government-backed Financial Ombudsman Institution is working to settle the complaints it has received from infectious disease insurance policy holders about disputed claims.
In addition, the FSC has asked insurance companies to increase manpower to expedite the processing of claims and handle disputes related to those policies, Huang added.
Meanwhile, policy holders are urged not to go to hospitals just for a medical certificate of their diagnosis, as health workers need to focus on more urgent matters, he said, adding that the Insurance Act allows a two-year period for a claim to be filed.
One of the issues currently facing insurance companies is a new government policy that a rapid test can be taken to confirm a COVID-19 infection, if it is verified by a doctor via video conferencing, starting May 12, according to lawyer Beck Liu (???), who served on an Insurance Bureau panel to review life insurance products.
FSC data valid as of April 29 showed that there were 6 million valid infectious disease insurance policies in Taiwan, and insurers had paid out NT$875 million (US$29.47 million) this year on 20,450 claims filed by policy holders who had either been infected with COVID-19 or listed as contacts.
Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance Co. was the first company in Taiwan to sell infectious disease insurance policies that covered COVID-19 and the cost of quarantine for people listed as contacts.
When the policies were first issued in December 2020, with an annual premium of NT$500, the company sold over 4 million policies in the first month, collecting over NT$1.9 billion.
During Taiwan’s first spike in domestic COVID-19 cases in May 2021, however, the company paid out almost all of the NT$1.9 billion in claims.
The company also saw its risk-based capital ratio drop from over 1,000 percent to 579.6 percent, even though it remained within the minimum 200 percent required by regulators.
Most of the insurance policies, which were valid for one year, were not renewed by Taiwan Fire & Marine Insurance when they expired earlier this year, and the company is likely to face losses of over NT$400 million, according to industry insiders.
On Saturday, Taiwan reported 46,536 new COVID-19 cases, including 46,377 domestic infections.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel