Most COVID-19 claims do not include medical component

The majority of COVID-19 claims continue to include only lost wages, or indemnity costs, with 73% of claims without associated medical costs, though the average indemnity cost of COVID-19 claims decreased by 43% since January, according to a report issued Tuesday by San Diego-based Mitchell International Inc., part of Mitchell | Genex | Coventry.

Using aggregate data on COVID-19 claims, in a follow-up to a similar report issued in January, $1,380 is the average indemnity cost for COVID-19 claims and $7,766 is the average COVID-19 medical costs, of which only 27% of claims have a medical component.

The average indemnity cost for a COVID-19 claim was $2,400 in 2020, with the new figures almost half that. Meanwhile, average medical costs associated with COVID-19 claims have remained somewhat steady, with just a slight 5% increase since Mitchell’s last report.

Overall, 49% of claims come from health care — the highest share but a drop from the 52% reported for January to December 2020 and 66% reported from January to June 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic.