- We know the public health sector in the country is at a nascent stage despite undertaking efforts to spruce up in recent times. The country witnessed firsthand during the debilitating pandemic times how the healthcare system was found wanting when scores of people were struggling to survive. Our inadequacy was starkly exposed as people continued to face challenges in the absence of basic life-saving amenities during the peak pandemic, especially the second wave. More worryingly, health insurance coverage for citizens is also found to be inadequate, even as new sicknesses/illnesses/diseases keep emerging every day. This is one area the government authorities and insurance regulators should diligently concentrate on and address forthwith.
PC: India Today
- It’s a double whammy for ordinary citizens since the public healthcare sector is grossly inadequate to serve them and the taxes on health insurance make the premium costlier and more inaccessible. Showing understanding and exhibiting sensitivity here on the part of the government authorities would go a long way in mitigating the common citizens’ search for relief while afflicted with illness. Little wonder, many would concur in unison that GST on health insurance should have been lowered. As such, the GST council needn’t have referred the question of whether the tax on health and life insurance premiums should be lower to a Group of Ministers. For the uninitiated, the GST on health and life insurance premiums is 18%.
- Ministers, opposition politicians, industry figures, and sector experts have explained why an 18% GST on health insurance premiums affects insurance coverage as well as public health. Considering that a modest 8.263cr accrued through GST on health insurance premiums, did the issue warrant such a tortuous settlement, with a decision likely only at the next GST Council meeting in Nov? A 2021 Niti Aayog paper highlighted the plight of India’s Missing Middle, who aren’t poor or rich enough to gain from govt schemes or private insurance – 400 mn in all. In what’s just as bad, even as govt functionaries enjoy the benefit of central or state schemes, health insurance premiums have been rising in recent years. Reports say premiums rose 25% in the last 12 months.
PC: News18
- Further, several other issues afflicting private health insurance systems too need addressing. A survey found 43% of respondents struggling with the settlement process in the last three years. Patients often wait for as long as 10-12 hours after they are ready for discharge because companies delay claim settlements. Misselling, ambiguity in contracts, and hidden clauses often see their claims being denied or met only partially. Claims are regularly rejected because of a pre-existing disease or owing to eligibility other than a pre-existing disease. IRDAI should be cracking whips to ensure reforms introduced are strictly adhered to. Meanwhile, if and when GST on premiums comes down, health insurance will still be a consumer hazard. Keep your fingers crossed!
