【COVID-19 vaccine side effects】Does traditional medical insurance cover them?

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Updated 7 September 2021: The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers issued a statement indicating that, if any adverse reactions occur after receiving a COVID-19 vaccination and hospital treatment is required, its member companies will regard this as a “medical necessity” and reimburse the medical expenses in accordance with the terms and conditions of individual hospitalisation insurance products. Therefore, the medical insurance mentioned in this article now covers the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

At the time of writing, more than 460,000 people had received their first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, several suspected serious adverse incidents related to COVID-19 vaccination have occurred in recent weeks, raising public concern about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines. The Voluntary Health Insurance Scheme (VHIS) Office previously issued information stating that VHIS coverage includes expenses arising from adverse reactions requiring treatment following COVID-19 vaccination, including hospitalisation, day surgery and specified diagnostic imaging tests.

Given that VHIS covers the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, do mainstream traditional medical insurance products provide similar protection? The Hong Kong Federation of Insurers has pointed out that some individual medical insurance policies exclude expenses for preventive treatment and preventive care, including vaccination and claims arising directly or indirectly from vaccination. Today, 10Life examines several traditional medical insurance products to see whether they cover the side effects of COVID-19 vaccines.

Only a small number of medical insurance products cover COVID-19 vaccines

10Life reviewed product terms and conditions and contacted various insurance companies by email to compile information on the coverage for COVID-19 vaccine side effects provided by more than 10 traditional medical insurance products available in the market.

Chart 1: Comparison of coverage for COVID-19 vaccine side effects under different medical insurance products (as at 24 March 2021)

Insurance company Medical insurance product	Does the medical insurance cover COVID-19 vaccines?
AIA Super Good Health 2	✘¹
AXA Global Elite II Medical Plan	✔²
Bupa Bupa Hero VHIS	✔³
China Life “China Life Overseas” Premier Medical Insurance Plan	✔³
China Taiping Taiping Global Prime Medical Insurance Scheme	No response⁴
Cigna Cigna HealthFirst Elite Medical Plan	✔³
FTLife ｢MediCare｣ Medical Protection Plan	✔⁵
FWD TheOne Medical Solution	✘⁴
HSBC HSBC Premier Medical Plan	✔²
Manulife ManuMaster Series	✘¹
Prudential PRUmyhealth prestige Plan	✘¹
Sun Life Sun Life EverBright Medical Plan	No response⁴
Notes: The policy terms of the medical insurance product exclude preventive treatment or vaccination, while the insurance company only mentioned in its email response to 10Life that free COVID-19 vaccine side-effect coverage is provided to designated customers. In its email response to 10Life, AXA stated that, in general, customers of its “Global Elite II Medical Plan” and the “HSBC Premier Medical Plan” distributed through HSBC would be reimbursed if hospitalisation were required due to side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine. The reimbursement amount depends on factors including the level of cover selected by the customer and the scope of cover under the plan. The insurance company has adopted temporary measures to include COVID-19 vaccines under the medical insurance coverage. The insurance company had not yet responded to 10Life’s email enquiry. In its email response to 10Life, FTLife stated that the medical insurance coverage would include side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, but would only cover COVID-19 vaccines approved by the local government, and the relevant medical expenses must be medically necessary. The above information was provided by 10Life and was updated as at 24 March 2021.

As shown in the chart above, most popular medical insurance policies exclude preventive treatment or vaccination. However, as COVID-19 vaccination involves mass inoculation, a small number of insurance companies, such as Bupa, Cigna and China Life, have announced special temporary measures on their websites to include COVID-19 vaccine side effects as covered items under the medical insurance products mentioned above.

In addition, in response to our email enquiry, AXA stated that, in general, customers of its “Global Elite II Medical Plan” and the “HSBC Premier Medical Plan” distributed through HSBC would be reimbursed if hospitalisation were required due to side effects from a COVID-19 vaccine. (Note 1) FTLife also informed us that the ｢MediCare｣ Medical Protection Plan would cover side effects from COVID-19 vaccines. (Note 2) In other words, if policyholders of the above products are unfortunately hospitalised due to side effects from vaccination, they may receive reimbursement in accordance with the terms of their medical insurance policies.

Free COVID-19 vaccine side-effect coverage

Although most insurance companies have not included vaccine side effects in their medical insurance coverage, they have introduced free COVID-19 vaccine side-effect coverage (click here to read the article). Some of these free benefits target new and existing customers, while others are available to all Hong Kong residents. They mainly provide hospitalisation and death benefits. However, it should be noted that free vaccine side-effect coverage primarily takes the form of hospital cash benefits, calculated on a daily basis and subject to a specified maximum number of days. Traditional medical insurance provides broader coverage, generally has higher benefit limits, and reimburses actual expenses incurred. There are significant differences between the two. In addition, many insurance companies, such as AXA, FWD and Prudential, require customers to register before they can receive the free coverage. Therefore, if readers are unsure whether they already have free COVID-19 vaccine side-effect coverage, they should contact their insurance company as soon as possible.

Several suspected serious adverse incidents related to COVID-19 vaccination have occurred in recent weeks. However, the expert committee preliminarily considered that the incidents had no direct causal relationship with vaccination. Therefore, if a vaccinated person is hospitalised due to an adverse reaction arising from a pre-existing illness, they may not be eligible for side-effect coverage benefits. However, if the patient already has medical insurance, they may make a claim against the insurance company for the hospitalisation.

Finally, it is worth mentioning that, to make it easier for consumers to understand the coverage provided by VHIS products, 10Life actuaries have calculated the expected coverage ratios of VHIS using various illness and injury cases, including cancer, angioplasty and stroke. You are welcome to visit 10Life’s 《Product Decoder》 to compare them one by one.

VHIS (ward plan) adult male, 0 deductible

VHIS (ward plan) adult female, 0 deductible

VHIS (semi-private room plan) adult male, 0 deductible

VHIS (semi-private room plan) adult female, 0 deductible

VHIS (private room plan) adult male, 0 deductible

VHIS (private room plan) adult female, 0 deductible

Further reading:

〈Is the tax deduction the most attractive feature of the VHIS? It also has lesser-known benefits〉

〈【COVID-19】Comparison of free COVID-19 vaccine side-effect insurance (March 2021 updated edition)〉

Notes:

In its email response to 10Life, AXA stated that the reimbursement amount depends on factors including the level of cover selected by the customer and the scope of cover under the plan.
In its email response to 10Life, FTLife stated that the medical insurance coverage would include side effects from COVID-19 vaccines, but would only cover COVID-19 vaccines approved by the local government, and the relevant medical expenses must be medically necessary.
The above information was provided by 10Life and updated as at 29 March 2021. It is for reference only and does not constitute sales advice.

This English version of this article has been generated by machine translation powered by AI. It is provided solely for reference purposes. In the event of any discrepancy or inconsistency between this translation and the original Chinese version, the Chinese version shall prevail.

10Life Editorial Team

Our team of professional content researchers focussing on insurance

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10Life Editorial Team

Our team of professional content researchers focussing on insurance

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【COVID-19 Vaccine Side Effects】Are They Covered by Traditional Medical Insurance?

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