THE Philippine Life Insurance Association Inc. (PLIA) said it is ready to respond to any eventualities the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may bring in terms of potential claims.
PLIA said in a statement Monday that, in partnership with the Insurance Commission, it is adopting a special claims management process for COVID-19 related claims that will ensure relaxed requirements and expeditious settlement.
“This is the least our industry can do to provide assistance to our policyholders in their time of need,” said Benedict Sison, PLIA president.
“Although there was a time that the mortality experience in the Philippines stood alarmingly high at 8.5 percent (12/140) against the global rate of 3.9 percent (6,610/168,019) as of March 16, this has gone down to 6.5 percent (25/380) as of March 23 as the testing capacity of our healthcare network starts to expand with the increased availability of testing kits,” it added.
PLIA said together with the Insurance Commission, it will continue to monitor the situation and will respond accordingly to any unusual developments, with the interest of the insuring public in mind.
“We remain confident that with the prudent regulations prescribed by the Insurance Commission to assure financial health of insurance companies we would continue to serve the industry and its policyholders well,” PLIA said.
PLIA said its member-companies have activated their work-from-home protocols and for some, even their business continuity plan arrangements.
“The objective is to enable continued services to our policyholders, though on a reduced capacity under the prevailing constraints, while at the same time observing necessary health safeguards for the safety of all concerned,” PLIA said.
“As responsible corporate citizens, our members are, in their individual capacities, adopting various actions such as extending grace period on the payment of premiums, retaining skeletal home or online-based call center operations so that they remain accessible to policyholders, and working on policyholder requirements with special effort to deliver regular service levels despite current operational restrictions,” it added.
