KUALA LUMPUR – The insurance and takaful industry is working with the Health Ministry and Bank Negara Malaysia to explore ways to ease the expenses of Covid-19 patients who need to be treated at private hospitals.
In a joint statement yesterday, the Life Insurance Association of Malaysia, General Insurance Association of Malaysia and Malaysian Takaful Association said generally, pandemic-related risks are not covered under insurance and takaful plans worldwide.
“The exclusion stems from the difficulty in pricing for coverage relating to an event like a pandemic that may occur once in a lifetime, having an incalculable impact and cost. Covid-19 is a pandemic, hence, it is not insured/covered under medical and health insurance/takaful benefits.
“Nevertheless, in response to the nation’s immediate needs in the early stage of the pandemic in 2020, the majority of life insurers and takaful operators have provided supplementary benefits, such as a daily hospital income to be paid to the affected policyholders/certificate holders.”
They said the industry is supportive of protecting the interests of policyholders and certificate holders, and contributing to private-public partnership efforts to beat back the pandemic.
They said the industry has swiftly galvanised efforts to put in place various relief measures aimed at helping policyholders and certificate holders cope with the financial impact of the health crisis.
This includes the deferment of policy premiums and takaful contributions, which has benefited over a million policyholders and certificate holders, with the premiums and contributions valued at more than RM1.6 billion.
An RM8 million Covid-19 testing fund was set up in March last year to enable medical and health insurance policyholders to undergo testing for the coronavirus.
In addition to industry-wide efforts, individual insurers and takaful operators have also rolled out various schemes to aid policyholders and certificate holders, said the statement. – Bernama, January 18, 2021
