In June of last year, the law that requires compulsory individual insurance for Covid-19 came into force, which companies must hire private sector workers who are carrying out their work in person, either totally or partially, to finance or reimburse hospitalization and rehabilitation expenses associated with the coronavirus.
From the Ministry of Labor they clarify that this insurance “is mandatory until the validity of the Health Alert decreed by the Ministry of Health”, that is, until September 30 of this year.
And the Commission for the Financial Market (CMF) for the first time revealed official figures on the policies that have been contracted. Through an official letter sent in mid-June to the Minister of Labor, Jeannette Jara, the CMF reports that as of April 30 of this year, a total of 5,190,852 policies had been sold with a total collection of premiums of UF 1,126. 664.1 (equivalent to $36,252 million, or US$42.3 million).
The companies also informed the CMF that as of the same date a total of 1,057 claims had been registered, of which 703 were for health risk and 354 for death, with a total claim payment of UF 89,099 (some $2,867 million, or US $3.4 million).
On the other hand, it shows that of the total number of policies, 4 million expired between June and August: 2.11 million in June, 1.66 million in July and 240 thousand in August of the year 2022.
Additionally, the regulator told the Ministry of Labor that insurance companies had received and processed a total of 886 claims as of April 30, related to this type of insurance.
The letter sent by the CMF to the portfolio led by Minister Jara explains that on Friday, June 3, a team from the regulator held a meeting with Pedro Contador and Margarita Peña, from the Undersecretary of Social Welfare, “in order to address concerns related to with the mandatory individual health insurance associated with Covid-19″.
Prior to said meeting, the CMF had made a background request to the 12 insurance companies that would have reported the commercialization of the Covid insurance policy at the end of 2021. “It should be noted that during this year other companies could have been incorporated into the commercialization of this insurance, information that has not been collected by this Commission. On the other hand, regarding claims, it must be taken into account that there may be claims in settlement; In addition, there could be other claims without denouncing the court date, ”says the official letter.
The Ministry of Labor comments that “the aforementioned insurance is a legal obligation that falls on the employers of private sector workers subject to the Labor Code who carry out face-to-face work. The purpose of the insurance is to finance or reimburse the hospitalization and rehabilitation expenses charged to the worker, associated with the Covid-19 disease, in the manner and conditions established by law, including the risk of death from this same cause.
They add that “the timely fulfillment of said obligation, as well as the employment relationship in which it is framed, are aspects of interest and competence of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare. Indeed, Articles 13 and 14 of Law 21,342 indicate that it will be the employer’s obligation to contract this insurance and provide proof of contracting to the worker and that, in the event of non-compliance, the latter will be responsible for paying the sums that would have been covered. to the insurer, without prejudice to the sanctions applied by the Labor Inspectorate”.
Therefore, they point out that “we have to evaluate not only the fulfillment of said duty, but also the consistency between that obligation and the reality data; that is, the behavior that the Covid-19 pandemic has had.
This is why “and given that the interest of the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare is the workers and their well-being, since no further information was available, the CMF was asked for this information on the aforementioned insurance.”
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