Title of Manuscript: Increase in national health insurance during the
COVID-19 pandemic in Peru.
Abstract
Increasing health insurance has been a challenge during the pandemic in
developing countries. For this reason, we analysed the regulations
issued by the Peruvian government about health insurance and the health
insurance affiliation at the national level during the pandemic. We
carried out a cross-sectional study that included a review of national
government regulations and an analysis of secondary data on people
enrolled in health insurance. We identified eight national regulations
oriented to foster health insurance from the last quarter of 2019 to the
third quarter of 2021. We also found an increase in health insurance
coverage at the national level, represented by insurer organisations:
Comprehensive Health System (SIS) (72.5%), Social Security (ESSALUD)
(27.6%), Private Insurers (2.7%), Armed Forces/Police’s insurer
(1.9%), and other insurer companies (6.2%). The affiliation increased
mainly in quintile 5 (23.4%) and quintile 4 (20.2%). During the
pandemic, there have been developed and implemented regulations that
have promoted health insurance at the national level; likewise, we found
an increase in the number of enrolled people, with the greatest increase
in the SIS.