Indians’ insurance woes aren’t ending. Several News reports have reported buying Insurance will become tougher this financial year. Now as per official data, Covid patients are paying nearly 40% treatment costs from their pockets.

That’s because insurers are not aligning their payout to realities of Covid treatment. Fine prints on most health policies exclude coverage of expenses on overhead consumables, which are high in case of Covid thanks to use of PPE kits, masks, gloves, etc, as well and telemedicine.

The problem is, say experts, that over 14 months into the pandemic Insurers and hospitals are still not on the same page about standard treatment protocols and exclusions.

State-Wise claims data accessed by ET shows that as on May 14, a total of 14.82 lakh Covid -19 claims worth $ 23000 crore have been reported of which 12.33 lakh claims worth $ 11,700 crore have been settled by insurers in India since the pandemic. This data is compiled daily by the General Insurance Council of India (GIC) and reported to sector regulator IRDAI.

Which claims are settled with a lag of two to three weeks which explains the mismatch in reported vs settled claims, the apparent disparity between the average settlement amounts have raised concerns among experts over the effectiveness of mediclaim covers in a pandemic.

An analysis of the data shows that the national average coronavirus claim size – a proxy for average treatment cost- is $1.54 lakh. Against this an average of $95,622 is being settled.