More than 36,000 insured against COVID-19

Kathmandu, May 6

After the Insurance Board directed the insurance companies to start providing coverage against coronavirus (COVID-19), a total of 36,448 people have signed up for the COVID-19 insurance till date.

As per the board, the insurance companies have sold a total of 2,517 policies so far and collected premium of Rs 19.81 million.

Among the insurance companies, Shikhar Insurance has sold 618 COVID-19 policies that provides coverage for 8,056 people and collected Rs 4.27 million.

Similarly, Himalayan General Insurance has sold 393 policies, insured 2,747 people and collected Rs 4.95 million in premium.

The response and feedback on insurance policy has been extremely positive,” informed Raju Raman Poudel, executive director of Insurance Board, adding that despite the lockdown, the insurance companies have been conducting awareness programmes on the COV- ID-19 insurance policy.

On April 21, the board had directed insurance companies to provide insurance coverage for coronavirus by charging cheap premiums.

The board had also directed them to classify this type of coverage under the deadly disease category.

The board has fixed the premium for such insurance coverage at Rs 500 for each individual and Rs 300 for an additional family member for those who take out policies worth Rs 50,000. The board has directed insurance firms to charge Rs 1,000 per person and Rs 600 for an additional family member if the policy is worth Rs 100,000.

As per Poudel, the COV- ID-19 policyholders are largely individuals, with few uptake for the entire family members.

He further said that the insurance company will not have to pay any claim if the insured person contracts the coronavirus within 15 days of taking out a policy. The company will have to pay the claim if the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test is positive 15 days after the policy has been bought by the insured person.

The coronavirus insurance will be covered through the micro-insurance scheme.

So far, 99 Nepalis have tested positive for the coronavirus and many more are at risk of being infected, so the Insurance Board had issued its earlier directive to insurance companies to provide COVID-19 insurance to ensure financial security for low-income households, especially in rural areas.

Poudel further said, “We have brought this coronavirus insurance scheme so that people are covered if the disease does spread rapidly in the coming days.”

A version of this article appears in e-paper on May 7, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.

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