May 19, 2022 – The business magazine Capital asked five insurers about their acceptance practices for potential new customers who have gone through a corona infection. As was the case more than a year ago, the companies report that Corona is treated like any other disease in the risk assessment. It is not planned to change the tariff and pricing policy, nor to differentiate tariffs according to vaccination status.
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Insurance has become stricter. Consumers who want to take out private health, disability or life insurance after going through a corona infection have to be prepared for lengthy admission processes. In some cases, surcharges are due and applications are suspended.
This is reported by the editors of the business magazine Capital in its current issue 6/2022. Five insurance companies were asked about their acceptance practices for potential new customers who had previously been infected with Covid-19.
Debeka, R+V, Signal Iduna, Axa and Allianz were surveyed
Die Debeka Insurance treat corona in the risk assessment “like any other disease”, the company is quoted as saying. For people with moderate or severe courses as well as for long-Covid, the applications are postponed until full recovery. Then it is checked individually after which period of time a recording is possible.
Die R+V Insurance and the Signal Iduna Insurance would charge a risk surcharge for long-Covid depending on the disease, such as damage to the lungs. For disability and life insurance, an unconsequential course of illness is also crucial, it is said.
Die Ax insurance would examine applications critically if the health check had resulted in subsequent symptoms. the Alliance Insurance would advise “waiting for the healing to progress”.
Survey in January 2021 produced comparable results
Since the beginning of 2021, there have been reports in the popular media that insurers’ acceptance practices have changed due to the pandemic. The Taz even spoke of “Covid-19 arbitrariness in the insurance industry”.
However, a survey by VersicherungsJournals had already shown at the time that most societies treated an infection with the Covid 19 virus like any other disease. The four largest players in terms of contribution income were surveyed: Debeka, the DKV German Health Insurance CompanyAllianz and Axa (19.01.2021).
Calculation is geared to an increased performance
Corona currently does not play a role in the tariff and pricing policies of insurers, reports the editors of Capital in their latest issue.
The biometrics expert was already a good year ago Philip Wenzel in a guest article for VersicherungsJournal came to the conclusion “that the open concept of benefits in occupational disability insurance not only ensures that customers are also insured against new types of diseases. The calculation is apparently geared towards the fact that a pandemic might also result in an increased volume of services in the medium term.”
Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether there will be unexpected long-term consequences, Wenzel warned (February 23, 2021).
Tariffs should still not be differentiated according to vaccination status
The business magazine also found out that none of the companies surveyed are currently planning to differentiate tariffs according to vaccination status – not even R+V. CEO Norbert Rollinger is quoted as saying whether the pandemic “will ever affect tariffs and premiums in any way is currently still completely open”.
Last September, Rollinger struck a completely different note in an interview and caused a stir. His key message was: “As an insurance industry, sooner or later we will have to think about possibly differentiating tariffs according to vaccination status” (24.9.2021).
The industry was running for cover back then. It remains to be seen whether this will remain the case. Health insurers are already feeling the effects of high additional costs, the editorial team at Capital notes. So far, Debeka has paid 81 million euros for members suffering from Corona, and Signal Iduna has paid 25 million euros.
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