SEPARATE REGULATOR FOR HEALTHCARE SEGMENT

• With a view to make a common tariff structure for hospitals, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has proposed a separate regulator for the healthcare segment or it must be allowed to regulate hospitals.
• It has been noticed that the rate of inflation of hospital charges at present is around 10-15% and tariffs are being changed on a regular basis.

Important points:

• Hospitals keep changing tariffs on a regular basis. There is no body to regulate them on tariff structure and grading.
• When Covid hit the country last year, patients were charged excessively by some hospitals.
• Cost to Health Insurance Businesses:
• If insurers continue to pay whatever the hospitals are demanding, the health insurance business will be in poor health in the long run. Already, the industry is experiencing a high number of claims.
• At present, health care schemes and private insurance have individual hospital empanelment processes, which replicates various activities and contributes to inefficiency and duplication of processes.
• IRDAI currently doesn’t have the infrastructure to regulate hospitals. As healthcare is a state subject, it’s going to be a tough proposition for IRDAI to regulate the hospitals.
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), is a statutory body formed under an Act of Parliament, i.e., Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (IRDAI Act 1999) for overall supervision and development of the Insurance sector in India.
• Low Government expenditure on health has constrained the capacity and quality of healthcare services in the public sector.
• It diverts the majority of individuals – about two-thirds – to seek treatment in the costlier private sector.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT