HYDERABAD: An analysis of internal insurance claims for cardiovascular ailments in India by ICICI Lombard General Insurance found that there was a sharp decline in 2020-2021 (during the pandemic), as opposed to 2019-2020 (before the pandemic).
This trend was visible across men and women, major cities, for elective surgeries, non-elective surgeries and acute medical cases. The data was released ahead of World Heart Day on September 29.While 2,033 claims were made in the financial year 2019-2020, only 1,638 claims were made in the following year, among women.
As for men, 5,327 claims were made in 2019-2020, which reduced to 4,616, during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. “A good turn of events, all cities showcase a downward trend of claims arising from heart ailments. However, Mumbai still has the highest number of claims, followed closely by NCR,” the analysis read.Bengaluru saw 435 claims in 2019-2020, which dropped to 378 in 2020-2021.
In the year 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, Bengaluru had the fifth highest number of claims among eight cities. Apart from claims for chronic cases, the remaining saw a decline. Claims for elective surgeries, reduced from 180 pre-pandemic to 144, in the first year of Covid-19. Claims for acute medical cases also reduced from 256 to 213 and claims for non-elective surgeries dipped from 5,805 to 4,763. The only increase registered was in the chronic category, wherein claims increased from 1,119 to 1,134.