Aviva will repay a further £47m to private medical insurance customers as its final Covid reimbursement.
However this latest payment will only be made to SME and individual policyholders, not larger corporates.
This follows a £81m repayment to SME, individual and larger corporate customers in 2022 — meaning that the insurer has paid out a total of £128m for claims disruption during the pandemic.
The figure represents Aviva’s final assessment of the difference between expected claims costs and actual claims costs for the period between 1 March 2020 and 31 December 2022, when some treatments and procedures were delayed rather than cancelled.
The final payment includes a 20 per cent increase, which was outlined in Aviva’s Covid-19 pledge update in June last year.
For SME customers this payment is equivalent to around five week’s worth of their annual premium. For individual customer it is worth slightly more, at six week’s worth of annual premium. Aviva said that large corporate clients will not get a second payment as the equivalent value pledge was fulfilled for this portfolio in 2022 through the first payment.
Aviva UK Health managing director Steve Bridger says: “It was only right that we pledged to return any difference in claims costs to PMI policyholders after a full and fair assessment of the impact of the pandemic on our claims experience.
“I’m delighted that we have completed our final assessment and that we can make a further payment to customers at this time of increased living costs.”
Aviva says that all customers and clients who paid a premium across the period 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021 will be eligible for a payment, even if they no longer hold a policy.
Grant Thornton UK have independently reviewed Aviva’s approach in line with the Covid pledge commitment.
Aviva said ti would will be contacting brokers over the coming weeks to let them know about the payments.
