Pandemic Panic: Almost 650,000 Nepalis Apply For COVID-19 Insurance!

With no respite in sight, people are rushing to get insured against COVID-19 as the pandemic threat continues to increase in the country.

According to the Nepal Insurance Board (NIB), as many as 650,000 Nepalis have insured against the pandemic as of August 12.

The non-life insurance companies have issued more than 66,000 insurance policies and have collected NPR 364.66 million in premium.

As per the Board, over 10,700 people have applied for insurance within the first two days of this week.

The government’s recent decision to provide a 50% subsidy on the family insurance plan has incited people to apply for the insurance.

“The government’s decision to provide 50% on the premium amount in group insurance has helped attract mainly the corporate team and households to get insured against the pandemic,” said Anjan Dhakal, Chief of Corporate and International Business at NLG Insurance.

There are around 20 non-life insurance companies in the country issuing the insurance policies against COVID-19. The IB has permitted these companies to issue policies since April 16.

The Top Insurance Companies are

• Shikhar Insurance – Insured 126,306 individuals
• Siddhartha Insurance – Insured 54,522 people
• Sagarmatha Insurance – Insured 48,587 people

So far, as many as 155 coronavirus patients have filed claims at the concerned insurance companies. Among them, 44 patients have received their insured amount. The companies are yet to clear the outstanding claim’s worth NPR 10.75 million.

According to the IB, the first 10,000 claims for the compensation should be paid by insurance companies themselves. The Nepal Reinsurance Company is liable for reimbursement of the next 10,000 claims.  If there are over 35,000 claims, the Nepali Government will take charge.