The insurance regulator IRDAI is reported to have asked the industry body of non-life insurance companies, who offer health insurance packages, to work out a standardised cost structure for Covid-19 treatment. This is a positive development which should have been initiated earlier.
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Health insurance policies have a set of exclusions, that is, aspects that will not be covered by the insurer. The unusual dimension of Covid-19 hospitalisations is that it does not require surgical intervention. Often, most of treatment expenses go towards room rent and hospital consumables such as PPE. Typically, insurance policies exclude some consumables from their coverage. This has led to heartburn among insured who have been hospitalised towards Covid-19 treatment as there is a feeling that some hospitals have charged unreasonable amounts for PPEs.
Consequently, the move to get insurers to standardise the cost structure for treatment is a necessary step.
