Medical care for complications derived from Covid-19 in private hospitals increased by more than 100,000 pesos in one year, going from 412,274 pesos, average cost, in January 2021 to 520,439 pesos in the same month this year, according to figures from the Association Mexican Insurance Institutions (AMIS).
Despite this, it is expected that the average cost that Mexicans make when they get Covid19 will stabilize, because the Omicron variant causes fewer health effects and because of the high vaccination rate, which reduces the dangerous symptoms of this disease and the probability of hospitalization.
“We see that there is relative stability in terms of the behavior of the average amount of costs,” said Norma Alicia Rosas, general director of AMIS.
In a virtual press conference, he reported that since the start of the pandemic to date, insurers have paid 24,006 million pesos in medical expenses for Covid19, corresponding to 46,127 policyholders.
For deaths due to this disease, insurers have spent 32,144 million pesos on 140,330 people who had life insurance. This indicates that more than 140,000 families maintained their financial stability by having the support of life insurance.
The general director of AMIS stressed that given the development of the Ómicron variant, the end of the pandemic could be predicted and that insurers already see less growth in the total amount of compensation reported for this condition.
“Really, both in life and in medical expenses, it would seem that we are already beginning to see the lower part of the curve,” he said.
Regarding the measures that some insurers are taking with clients of major medical expenses that do not have their complete vaccination schedule, he expressed that it is not a generalized action of the sector and that only one company is known with these adjustments.
“Each of the companies has its own subscription criteria. Each one can establish the criteria that it considers to be adequate”, he stated.
yuridia.torres@eleconomista.mx
