BL Premium reports that Discovery Employee Benefits (DEB) has seen a huge spike in cardiometabolic and cancer claims since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, with long Covid playing a role.
Claims data released by DEB, which insures more than half-a-million individuals through its group risk benefits, show that claims for cardiometabolic conditions more than tripled since 2020, with a 200% increase in claims over the past year. Cardiometabolic disorders relate to several interrelated risk factors, including hypertension, elevated blood sugar, abdominal obesity and triglycerides. The data also show that there was a dramatic surge in death claims resulting from cancer compared with prepandemic levels. Cancer deaths increased from just two a month recorded by group risk in 2018, to six a month in 2022. Guy Chennells, head of product at DEB, indicated that the key drivers, all due to Covid-19, of the spike in claims were long Covid; a marked decline in individuals conducting annual health checks and screenings; and a reduction in regular exercise. International data suggest that long Covid increases the risk of heart attacks and stroke disease because of the heightened risk of blood-clotting conditions, he indicated. Data show that generalised health checks declined as much as 50% during Covid-19 from screening levels in 2019. Furthermore, exercise levels dropped 12% during Covid-19. “Encouragingly, though, the exercise rates seem to be almost back to levels seen prepandemic,” said Chennells.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Garth Theunissen at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)
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