Iran: Medical Insurance Claims Leap

EghtesadOnline: Iranian insurance companies paid 94.25 trillion rials ($348.6 million) in medical claims in the first ten months of the current fiscal year that ends in March, posting 29.14% increase compared to the corresponding period last year.

News ID: ۷۸۶۰۷۷

22 February 2021

Data released by the Central Insurance company of Iran shows the amount was paid for 26.7 million bills -- 52% higher compared to last year.

The claimants in this category accounted for 91.8% of the total. Insurance companies’ premium income from health and medical insurance amounted to 135.4 trillion rials ($552.6m) during the ten-month period – a 14.4% growth year-on-year. Medical insurance premium accounted for 20% of the total. The rise in medical insurance claims is related largely to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has infected 1.57 million people in Iran so far. The official death toll reached 59,483 on Sunday while 1.34 million have recovered so far. Insurers have been urged to broaden the scope of medical insurance to cover costs of the deadly coronavirus, including medicine approved by the Health Ministry.

Almost all insurance firms are struggling to minimize the negative impact of the plague on their businesses. Several companies have extended cover to include a part of hospital bills of the insured afflicted by the virus. According to CII figures, insurers' ten-month premium income amounted to 657.1 trillion rials ($2.68 billion), up 36.9% compared to the same time in the previous year.

Third-party vehicle insurance still is the main source of income (32.2%) for the insurers despite efforts to diversify their revenue base. The mandatory third-party auto insurance has been a vital source of income for insurance companies contrary to the industry's long and mid-term development agenda.

Third-party vehicle insurance premium increased by 32.29% during the ten months under review to 211.7 trillion rials ($864m).

Life insurance was third on the premium list as companies made 99.6 trillion rials ($406.5m) from 5.88 million life insurance policies during the ten months. The numbers show 42.3% and 5.37% increase

in life insurance premium and the total number of sold policies, respectively. This segment’s share in insurance companies' portfolio was 15.17% during the ten months.

CII published details about the terms of payout, according to which 323.5 trillion rials ($1.22b) was paid for 29.09 million cases -- up 24.03% and 46.21%, respectively.

Third party auto insurance accounted for 37.21% of payouts in the ten months despite the number of claims in this category having declined by 17.75% to 896,000.