Health insurance should cover COVID-19 treatment

We seem to have lost humanity. Neither the insurance companies, nor the corporate hospitals have shown any concern nor have the governments been able to rein them in. In this crisis, while the country's economy and the general public have taken a beating, the corporate hospitals are making hay while Corona shines.

The government blinks most of the time saying that only those who can afford go to private hospitals. And it washes its hands of by saying that it has fixed rates for Covid treatment and it is mandatory for the private hospitals to follow it strictly. There ends the issue. There is no mechanism to ensure that the hospitals follow the tariff announced by the government.

This pandemic has proved that there is no one who cares for the patients. Whatever the politicians claim or the hospitals claim, it is all for publicity sake. The doctors and the para medical staff need to be fully appreciated for the efforts they are putting in to save the patients. But, not the State administration or the hospital managements.

If the administration cannot control a vendor selling raw coconut for Rs 100 near the hospital and an ambulance charging anything from Rs 40,000 to Rs one lakh for such a short distance as 10 kms, what should we say. Making rounds of government hospitals for photo shoots by politicians does not help the common man. The real help would be when the administration gets in to full gear and reins in rapacity of hospitals and brings treatment to an affordable level. There are any number of incidents wherein hospitals refuse to hand over the body of a corona patient unless the huge bills are cleared. More than the disease, it is the huge medical bill that is killing the patients and ruining families. The minimum one should be ready to pay to the hospital whether a patient survives or not is nearly a lakh and half per day. This is in addition to what families of patients pay through their nose to buy injections available only in black market.

The administration seems to be busy all the time harping on falling COVID positive cases, instead of looking into the negative aspects like people suffering at the hospital gates unable to pay the massive bills.

There is an urgent need for the Insurance Regulatory Authority to come out with policy guidelines in regard to COVID-19. On one hand the government says that people should go in for health insurance. But under the present pandemic situation where the hospitals are levying a bill of Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakhs, the health insurance policies taken by the citizens are not being honoured.

When you buy a health insurance policy to protect yourself against sudden hospitalisation, you expect cashless treatment. The cashless claim ensures that all medical expenses are taken care of by the insurance company from the beginning and you don't have to spend a penny (except a nominal amount) in the hospital. Even if your policy is eligible for cashless settlement, the insurance companies are not honouring it. The insurance companies say that COVID-19 is not covered under the existing policy and hence one should take a fresh one. It means another additional burden on the people who are already crumbling under the impact of the pandemic.

If LIC can accept claims of Covid deaths, If Corona can be brought under Ayushman Bharat and Aarogyasri, why cannot it be brought under general health insurance? How can there be two different rules? The political executive at the Centre should stop sermonising and look into this most important Act.

The insurance companies should not be allowed to duck under the clause, 'Act of God'. Is it Act of God or Act of Dragon? Well, it's for the government to clarify. It's time such ridiculous clauses are removed from the insurance Act.