Claims for COVID-19 insurance policies could drop next month as the government plans to relax one of its quarantine rules, but property insurers might still proceed with their capital injection plans, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced on Monday that from Nov. 7, caregivers of confirmed COVID-19 cases would no longer need to self-quarantine if they test negative after the confirmed case completes their seven-day quarantine period.
As many COVID-19 insurance policies have been designed to pay policyholders for being quarantined, property insurers would have fewer compensation claims following the rule change, the commission said.
Photo: CNA
Each property insurer could pay NT$1 billion or NT$2 billion (US$30.94 million or US$61.88 million) less in compensation based on the eased rule, Chinese-language news reports said.
“COVID-19 insurance is unlike accident insurance or fire insurance, the premiums of which can be adjusted based on a fixed mechanism. Whether and how property insurers should compensate policyholders of COVID-19 insurance hinges on the nation’s anti-virus regulations,” Insurance Bureau Deputy Director-General Thomas Chang (張玉煇) said.
However, it is too early to say that some property insurers would not need to implement capital injection plans to boost their finances, because the COVID-19 situation is still developing, Chang said.
Accumulated COVID-19 insurance claims grew to NT$107.18 billion as of Monday, up NT$6.4 billion from a week earlier, the commission said, adding that 2.83 million policyholders had been paid out so far, accounting for 56 percent of all people who had purchased COVID-19 insurance.
The combined net worth of all property insurers last month plunged NT$538.5 billion month-on-month to NT$828.5 billion, with combined pretax losses of NT$110.4 billion for the first nine months of the year, commission data showed.
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