Medical insurers in Kenya posted their highest-ever underwriting profit in the six months ended June last year on reduced bills, as patients avoided hospitals for fear of contracting the coronavirus.
Latest data by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows that medical insurance firms made Ksh891.05 million (about $8 million) in underwriting profit over the half-year period—a record performance for the firms which have over the years posted losses.
Tom Gichuhi, the chief executive of the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI), attributed the performance on substantial reduction in claims payment due to reduced visits to hospitals.
“Many people avoided going to hospitals for fear of contracting Covid-19. There was highly reduced traffic to hospitals and even those seeking elective surgeries were also postponing,” he said.
“People were also working from home and therefore for simple ailments which could otherwise drive heavy traffic to hospitals, people avoided.”
The Ksh891.05 million ($8 million) profit was 3.2 times higher than the Ksh280.37 million ($2 million) posted in the preceding half year, placing medical insurers on a strong footing to continue with the recovery from the Ksh1.1 billon ($11 million) loss they booked in 2018.
