Page 15 - Turkinsurance Digital Magazine

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medical trend from 4.2% in 2019 to 1% in 2020. Nevertheless,
Participant profile insurers project that this rate will start to increase in 2021, ris-
ing to 2.3%.

Medical trend in Norway continues to edge upward for 2020 and
18% 2021. However, there is hope that the growing use of digital solu-
31% tions and online services will help mitigate some of the future in-
crease in trend. In Portugal, medical trend is expected to return
to 2019 levels in 2021.

22% Economic conditions in Turkey impose a
negative impact on medical trend
29%
For Turkey, negativity of economic indicators are estimated to
result in a decline in medical trends in the coming period. Tele-
medicine for outpatient care was implemented by a few big insur-
Americas Asia Pacific Europe Middle East/Africa
ers during the pandemic. For the time being, the government has
paused the use of private facilities as pandemic hospitals; howev-
er, it is expected that the government may reimplement this ap-
Private medical care in the Philippines is largely dominated by an proach. With profit-sharing in place, many clients could receive
HMO (Health Maintenance Organization) model, which accounts dividends or experience rating refunds for the 2020 policy year.
for 80% of plans. While the frequency of inpatient and outpatient Some insureds are looking to add additional benefits like limited
claims has definitely decreased in 2020, the average amounts per psychological therapy sessions or dietician services; however, the
inpatient and outpatient claims are rising. Overall this helps ex- report says that these additions will need to be balanced against
plain why trend rates in the Philippines have edged up for 2020 to potential utilization increases in 2021.
8.5% from 7.8% in 2019 and are projected to continue increasing
for 2021, although continued delay in treatment in 2020 could High inflation continues to be one of the key factors driving
mean an even larger increase in 2021 than projected. . Overall medical trend in Argentina. The estimated 2020 medical trend
trend in Singapore is still hovering in the 7% to 8% range for is lower than 2019 and projected 2021. In Canada, COVID-19
2020 and 2021. pandemic significantly reduced accessibility to certain covered
medical services between March and June of 2020. In particular,
Medical trend in Europe is expected in significant reductions have been seen in paramedical services, vi-
sion care and emergency out-of-country medical care. This has
2021 to a trend rate close to the 2019 reflected in the report as a projected trend for 2020 of 0.1%.

The report suggests that the significant drop in utilization and According to the report, the year 2021 could see a return of this
medical claims in France during 2020 can be attributed to the deferred care as utilization rates for many service categories re-
April lockdown period. Although utilization has started to rise turn to prepandemic levels in the USA. Overall, it’s anticipated
again, overall the report expects a reduction of 5% in medical that cost trends for 2020 and 2021 will be lower than in the pre-
claims by the end of 2020. This is reflected in the decrease in vious five years.

How do you expect the medical trend in your overall book of

business to change over the next three years compared to
current rates? (%)

Middle East / Africa 11 87 2

Europe 1 21 71 6

Asia Pacific 11 49 39 1

Latin America 1 3 37 54 4

Global 3 30 63 4

Significantly lower Lower About the same Higher Significantly higher