THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IMPACT ON LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE

Abstract

Prevention has never been the strong point of Eastern European citizens compared to Western nationalities. But since the COVID19 pandemic, our appetite, Romanians’, to generate protection for both ourselves and those close to us has grown exponentially. Another segment in which there were increases was that of legal entities (employers) that began to offer insurance as part of the salary package. Thus, starting with 2020 until now, the majority of insurers owning in their portfolio health insurance products or products with capitalization have reported increases in gross written premiums and obviously in the level of premiums collected. By using the quantitative research method (empirical data, from official open sources on the insurance market), we shall follow the evolution of the insurance companies’ portfolio and identify the changing needs of the consumer of such products. The analysis carried out among customers shows people’s needs to be protected both from the disease and from financial challenges (cases where the pandemic also hit social, thus generating job losses and ultimately depriving entire families of income). If by 2020 the major players in the insurance market were making enormous efforts to achieve their sales goals at the level of Life's portfolio, in 2021 most of them managed to develop their customer portfolio and offer insurance solutions to everyone, in a sustainable way.

Keywords

• insurance
• pandemic
• protection
• benefits
• health