Severe dengue symptoms see surge in health insurance claims

 

 

 

As per provisional data available from National Vector Borne Disease Control Program (NVBDCP) India has witnessed a 14-fold increase in the number of dengue cases reported between 2007 and 2013  with severe symptoms that requires hospitalization. This in turn has resulted in an increase in health insurance claims for dengue treatment.

 

A 32% rise has been reported in dengue-related insurance claims between 2012 and 2013, according to an in-house health insurance policy analysis by ICICI Lombard. The number of dengue-related claims rose from 0.9% in 2011 to 2.2% in 2013 for ICICI Lombard, while they rose from 3.8% in 2011 to 9.8% in 2013 for Apollo Munich Health Insurance.

 

“Patients are exhibiting severe complication, requiring hospital care. Definitely the number of admissions owing to dengue have gone up, resulting in loss of money and working hours,” said Dr Om Shrivastav, director of infectious disease department of a prominent hospital.

 

“In each part of the country, different strains of the virus are in circulation. The rise in incidence could be attributed to better reporting and availability of diagnostic facilities,” said Dr AC Dhariwal, director of NVPDCP.

 

According to data from Apollo Munich, while 48% of the total health insurance claims were related to infectious diseases in 2010, the share dropped to 32% in 2013. The share of dengue-related claims, however, grew from 3.8% in 2011 to 9.8% in 2013.