Health Insurance Coverage to Now Include Consumables and Private Nurses

In order to follow the directives of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), city-based Public Sector Undertaking or PSUs in Kolkata are set to introduce policies with consumables and private nurses covers.

This directive from IRDAI came in order to reduce the deductions in health insurance claim payout. This change will however also increase the cost of health insurance premium by 5% to 9%. According to IRDAI, this order has to be complied with before the 30th of September 2024. 

For existing policy holders, this will be reflected in their policy post renewal only. A spokesperson of the National Insurance Policy, that is the top most health insurer in Kolkata and has over 200 network hospitals in the city said that the policy will come into effect from this week. 

Things like gloves, tape, gauze, sutures, syringe, catheters and dressings are all considered consumables and patients end up paying a hefty amount for these items. A typical amount any day would be about 10% or more of the total bill. This combined with the cost of private attendants increases the out of pocket cost of the policyholder by over 15%. When a patient is admitted for prolonged treatment, these charges make up a huge amount of the total bill.