KATHMANDU, SEPTEMBER 14

The Insurance Board has amended the COVID-19 Insurance Directive today making the PCR reports obtained from private hospitals also valid to claim COVID-19 insurance.

Earlier, only the reports tested at government hospitals and laboratories were valid for claims. After receiving criticism from the public on the previous provision the board has amended the policy.

Based on the amended directive, any COVID-19 patient with a PCR report from any government or private hospital can claim insurance and receive the amount within seven days. However, the new provision has added limitations on claiming insurance.

As per the new provision, patients have to submit a recommendation letter from their respective local government to claim the insurance amount. Moreover, if the insurance company has doubts on the report then the patient will have to bear all the treatment expenses on their own.

Meanwhile, those patients without symptoms and staying in home isolation will only receive 25 per cent of the total insurance amount while patients who have been receiving treatment in hospitals will receive 75 per cent of the insurance amount.

However, the provision will not be applicable to people who bought the insurance earlier.

From March 30, companies started issuing COVID-19 insurance while patients started claiming their insurance since June. So far around Rs 20 million has been paid to patients out of more than Rs 60 million in claims, said Raju Raman Poudel, spokesperson for the Insurance Board.

There are two types of COVID-19 insurance — worth Rs 50,000 and Rs 100,000. So far, insurance firms have collected around Rs 518 million in COVID-19 insurance premium.

As mentioned in the budget, the government has bought COVID-19 insurance of all government workers worth Rs 100,000 while the government has provided a 50 per cent grant on COVID-19 insurance of the public.

A version of this article appears in e-paper on September 15, 2020, of The Himalayan Times.