Financial Services Secretary M. Nagaraju met with representatives of leading insurance companies, hospitals, the General Insurance Council, and the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) on Thursday to discuss medical inflation and rising premium costs. As per a post on X by the Department of Financial Services, Nagaraju asked insurers and hospitals to take measures such as devising standardised treatment protocols, common empanelment norms, and seamless cashless claims processing “to bring down health insurance costs”.
“It was emphasised that the hospitals and insurance companies should work together to ensure transparency and efficiency and make healthcare affordable and accessible for policyholders,” the Department of Financial Services said.
The meeting came a day after data for October showed retail inflation fell to a record low of 0.25 per cent, aided by the cut in Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates that came into effect on September 22. However, inflation for the ‘health’ sub-group stood at 3.86 per cent, with inflation for ‘hospital and nursing home charges’ at 5.55 per cent.
As part of the GST reforms that were announced in September, a blanket exemption was given to life and health insurance premiums for individuals, including family floater plans and policies for senior citizens.
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