The average amount of money claimed on health insurance by women is 31 per cent lesser in comparison to men’s health insurance claims, finds a survey by SecureNow Insurance Brokers. This is even though the number of claims raised by women is higher than men. Moreover, is showed that both men and women spend the same amount of time in a hospital, which is five days.
The survey research report, titled Health Insurance Claims: Impact of Gender, was conducted during 2021-2022 and saw 839 individuals participating.
The top three reasons why women made claims were maternity (13.6 per cent of the respondents said so), diseases relating to the genitourinary system (12.7 per cent) and diseases relating to the eye (11.6 per cent).
On the other hand, the top three reasons why men made claims were diseases relating to the circulatory system (13 per cent), diseases relating to the genitourinary system (10 per cent) and diseases relating to the eye (9 per cent).
The top three high-value claims were made by women for these diseases--11.8 percent of women had maternity-related claims, diseases of the genitourinary system claims were made by 11.2 per cent of women, and 10.8 per cent of women made claims regarding neoplasms. Neoplasms are tumours that may or may not be cancerous but since their treatment is expensive, the value of the claim is higher despite fewer women having them.
The top three high-value claims made by men were diseases of the circulatory system (24 per cent), diseases of the digestive system (9 per cent) and claims for diseases of the respiratory system (8 per cent). The value per claim for these three diseases was higher among other claims for men’s diseases.
“The lower claim cost for women needs a deeper understanding. It’s not that women fall ill less but their per-day costs are low. Our primary research suggests that sometimes women tend to be treated in less expensive hospitals or undergo more basic treatments. The good aspect is that women are claiming health insurance extensively but they should also get the benefit of the best treatments possible.” said Kapil Mehta, co-founder, SecureNow Insurance Broker Pvt. Ltd.
