Page 11 - Turkinsurance Digital Magazine

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COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global crisis

in health and economy, and it deeply impacts
insurance activities in Turkey and the rest of
world. While the insurance market re-examines

its methods of operation in order to heal some
wounds caused by the pandemic, changing
demands of customers cause a shrinkage of
demands for insurance.

First seen in China’s Wuhan province at the end of 2019, coronavirus
has since spread to nearly every country in a very short time. Declared
a pandemic by World Health Organization, the outbreak has been one
of the most influential health crisis in the history of humanity and
turned into an economic crisis at the same time.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak which has infected millions of peo-
ple and killed hundreds of thousands, and imposed deep impacts on
especially Europe and USA; many countries were forced to shut down
their borders, and people confined themselves in their homes as social
isolation has become the most important defense against the virus.
Quarantines imposed by many countries around the world resulted in
an economic depression. As the commercial activities nearly came to
a halt, customer habits and priorities have consequently changed, and
many sectors decided to cease operations. Financial losses in sectors
that try to survive this crisis with measures and support packages pro-
vided by the governments, have unfortunately brought deep economic
wounds.

Turkish insurance market has played an ef-
ficient role in fight against coronavirus with

changes in health insurance coverage

Following the first coronavirus case in Turkey as of March 11, meas-
ures and supports were put in place immediately. Insurance market has
been one of the markets that were impacted by the negative results of
the outbreak.

After the outbreak in Turkey, customers rapidly turned to health in-
surance products as a solution. Over 4 million health insurance poli-
cyholders in Turkey began to wonder whether coronavirus treatments
were covered by their private or complementary health insurance pol-
icies.