A medical insurance policy for Covid-19 had many takers when it was launched in July last year but very few have renewed it till date, said officials of insurance companies.

They said one of the main reasons for not renewing the Corona Kavach policy could be that people were no longer scared of Covid at least till February, when the number of fresh cases was very low.

Financial problems caused by the pandemic was another reason for the lack of interest in renewing the policy, the officials said.

Corona Kavach was launched on July 10 by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority. National Insurance Company Ltd sold 75,000 policies across India, of which around 40 per cent were sold in Calcutta, said officials.

Around 10 per cent of the policies bought by subscribers had renewals due in the first three-and-a-half to six-and-a-half months. Officials said the bulk of the policies were bought between July 10 and October.

“Out of the 7,500-odd Corona Kavach policies which were to be renewed during this period, only around 400 were actually renewed. Thousands of renewals are due in April,” said Saurav Kariwala, assistant manager (medical), National Insurance Company Ltd, Calcutta.

“One of the main reasons could be that the fear of Covid was diminishing in people's minds because the number of cases had started reducing. Since there is a surge again, there could be renewals by subscribers who had taken out the policy for nine-and-a-half months,” said Kariwala.

Public health experts said there was complacency among most people about Covid.

“Most people now are not concerned about Covid and the fear is gone. They are dropping guard. Many of those who have been vaccinated feel they are fully immune to the disease. That is one reason why people are not bothered to buy or renew the policy,” said public health expert Abhijit Chowdhury.

In the middle of November, Bengal used to record around 3,500 new Covid cases every day. That came down to around 2,000 in the middle of December. By the middle of January, barely 600 new cases were reported daily and in February, the average daily count dropped below 150.

However, the number of cases has started rising again since March.

Many people had opted for the Corona Kavach policy because there were no cappings on expenses. In other health insurance policies, there were cappings on expenses in various categories such as bed charges and doctor’s consultation.

So, many people bought Corona Kavach despite having a health insurance policy, officials of insurance companies said.

Medical insurance agents said they had been calling up subscribers over the past few years for renewal but many had refused.

“Today, I called up two clients who have their renewals due this month. Both said they are not interested in renewing the policy. The reasons are they are not so scared about the disease and also financial problems,” said Sandip Chakraborty, a health insurance agent.

He said one of the clients had purchased the policy of sum assured of Rs 3 lakh in July. He is supposed to pay Rs 6,500 for renewal. “The man said he is undergoing financial constraints,” said Chakraborty.