How The Pandemic Raised Insurance Awareness in India?

The Covid pandemic was a global outbreak of the Covid virus that began in early 2020. The pandemic lead to a spree of economic disruption, pervasive illness and death across the world. The roots of the pandemic or where it started from are still a matter of exploration. How it is still assumed to have originated in China. Early cases were reported in Wuhan, Hubei province, in December 2019. By January 2020, the virus had spread to other parts of China, and by February it had reached several other countries. The (WHO) World Health Organization made a declaration of a global pandemic in the month of March, 2020.

As the pandemic progressed, governments responded with various processes to make an effort to limit the blow-out of the corona virus and guard their citizens. These measures included travel restrictions, quarantines, and lockdowns. The pandemic also resulted in a significant increase in demand for medical supplies and personnel, as well as a decrease in the availability of many goods and services.

The Covid pandemic brought a momentous effect on the global economy. Many businesses were forced to close their doors, and lakhs of individuals lost their employment. The stock market crashed heavily, and the rate of many currencies declined. The pandemic also resulted in a decrease in international trade and travel.

The Covid pandemic is responsible for the death of more than 62 lakh people across the world. Many of these covid related deaths have happened in low-income and middle-income category based countries. The pandemic has also had a momentous impact on the mental health of people across the globe, with many experiencing anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The pandemic has also put a strain on healthcare systems around the world, with hospitals hustling to handle the flood of patients.

The Covid pandemic has also had a substantial impact on the environment. The lockdown measures put in place to try to contain the pandemic have resulted in a dramatic decrease in air pollution, as people have been forced to stay indoors. However, the pandemic has also resulted in an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, as factories and power plants have been forced to shut down.

The Covid pandemic has also had a profound impact on society. The lockdown measures have led to a decrease in social interaction, and many people have been pushed to segregate themselves by refraining to keep any contact with their friends and family. The pandemic has also resulted in an increase in hate crimes, as people target those who they assume are accountable for the rapid spread of the covid virus.

The pandemic has also had a substantial impact on the global economy. The decrease in global trade and travel has resulted in a decrease in demand for many goods and services. This has led to a decrease in manufacture, and an increase in unemployment. The stock market had a crash, and the rate of several currencies declined.

In all these, India was hit pretty badly. However, this led to a heavy and increased cognizance about insurance in India. People started understanding that firstly, due to increased cases, it was getting difficult to get themselves and their positive family members to get admitted to government undertaken hospitals. Secondly, to get themselves or their family members to get admitted to private hospitals was becoming an expensive affair. Those who already had health insurance were able to avail quality treatment in private hospitals despite the expensive hospitalization treatment costs. This was observed by those who did not have health insurance.

Health insurance companies also started coming up with covid specific health insurance plans which did not have a waiting period of more than thirty days. Hence, as a safety measure, people started purchasing comprehensive health insurance plans and also covid centric health insurance policies.

It was observed that people from tier-two and tier-three cities had a higher tendency to purchase health insurance due to the second wave of 2021 which was one of the deadliest of all the waves in India. 

There was also a widespread awareness about comprehensive health insurance plans because they allowed you to avail treatment for covid-19 just 30 days after purchasing the plan and even saved lakhs of rupees. Term insurance policies also gained a tremendous amount of acceptance among the Indian population.

The fact that health insurance plans saved a lot of money that could be otherwise lost in covid hospitalization lead to the widespread awareness of health insurance in India.