Health cover premiums shoot up as Covid-19 pandemic threat looms

Premium costs jump 10-15%, driven by large number of claim payouts during pandemic as well as factors such as rising healthcare costs

As the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to rear its head again, health insurance costs are shooting up, with an increase of 10-15 per cent in premiums on several new policies as well as existing ones that come up for renewal.

Many non-life insurers have already raised premiums on their health offers. This is driven by the large number of health claims paid out in the two years of the pandemic as well as related factors such as an increase in healthcare costs when the virus raged and the regulator’s soft signal to insurers not to raise premiums during grim times. Several products