INGO Insurance Company is preparing for a new outbreak of COVID-19 and is revising its staff health insurance programs, offering employers better protection for their employees and business. The main changes include making coronavirus coverage mandatory and increasing demand for the psychological assistance option.
"Given that the coronavirus also has seasonality, we are already preparing for a new outbreak and modifying health insurance programs," says Maryna Zvarych, Head of Personal Insurance at INGO. "Our service department, which provides consulting and organizational assistance, has also been prepared accordingly. The number of employees of the contact center has been increased, all of them have medical education and have undergone special training."
According to INGO, during the previous outbreak of coronavirus disease, 10-15% of the insured staff fell ill. They received payments or organizational assistance and support during treatment. At the end of 2020 and 2021, we paid UAH 34.3 million for the treatment of our clients for covid.
However, the new strains of COVID-19 are more aggressive, spread faster and can cause a more severe course of the disease with more complicated consequences, so INGO is modifying its programs.
As Maryna Zvarych explains, the staff health insurance programs are expanding to cover treatment of both simple outpatient cases and severe inpatient cases. Most corporate insurance programs now include COVID-19 coverage not as an additional option but as a mandatory condition. Insurance coverage has various variations with certain limits for both outpatient and inpatient care. This includes private clinics. As of now, in addition to public healthcare facilities, some private institutions also provide inpatient treatment for covid.
"If the insured person receives medical care in the public sector, where treatment is paid for from the budget, we provide additional medicines, cover auxiliary drugs and diagnostics that are not included in the state package," Zvarych explains.
Other innovations in insurance programs include an additional option for psychological assistance after an illness. "In fact, this option existed before, but it was not in demand," Zvarych clarifies. - "Instead, the complications caused by COVID-19 and their impact on a person's mental state have made this option quite popular for the insurance program.
In addition to strengthening its health insurance programs, INGO has developed a special program, Corona Protection+, which provides not for the organization and payment of treatment, but for financial compensation in case of coronavirus disease. Due to this narrow focus, this program is more affordable, unlike voluntary health insurance (VHI). Its peculiarity is that the insurance starts working as soon as the diagnosis is made.