World Heart Day: 63% fall in health insurance claims for heart disease

There has been a steep 63% fall in the number of claims related to heart diseases in the past two years, as revealed by the General Insurance data. Compared with 7,360 claims in 2019-20, there were only 2,737 claims till August 2021.

Women have shown a sharper fall in the number of claims at 63.8% compared with 62.4% for men. This aligns well with the findings of a recent survey by ICICI Lombard, which claims that nearly 87% women suffering from heart diseases are regular with their health check-ups compared with 74% men. The survey was conducted among 1,493 people across the country, in September 2021.

Among cities, Kolkata has seen the steepest fall of 74.9% in the number of claims, followed by 71.6% for Chennai and 70.6% for Pune. As far as surgeries are concerned, there has been a decrease in both elective and non-elective surgeries during Covid, with the numbers falling by 50.5% and 64.3%, respectively.

Despite the fall in claims numbers for heart diseases, as many as 68% people have bought additional health covers since Covid, while 15% people are planning to increase it. This is probably because in the past two years 69% women and 43% men who were suffering from heart ailment, contracted Covid, while nearly two-thirds of the respondents faced heart-related issues after contracting Covid.

Subsequently, more than two-thirds of the respondents have started eating healthy and exercising regularly to stay fit, claims the survey. Besides, 46% people believe health insurance has become a necessity, while one in three believe health insurance is more important now compared to pre-Covid time.

Payout for women has fallen by 57.1%, for men by 55.2%

Kolkata has seen the sharpest fall of 74.9%

Source: ICICI Lombard claims data