If the Union Finance Ministry had its way, health insurance benefits would have remained out of reach to lakhs of people suffering from mental illness in the country, even after the passage of the Mental Healthcare Bill 2013 that is expected to get Parliament nod in the ensuing Winter Session.
Sources in the Union Health Ministry said that originally, Clause 21(2) in the Bill only mandated “IRDA (Insurance Regulatory Development Authority) to endeavour to ensure that all insurers make provisions for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of physical illness”.
The term “shall endeavour to” was initially inserted on the insistence of the Department of Financial Affairs, this was revealed by the Health Ministry to a Parliamentary Standing Committee during the scrutiny of the Bill. However, it was felt that the word ‘endeavour’ itself is a loose word as it does not make it mandatory on the IRDA to ensure health insurance to the sector which is already marked with apathy and shortage of doctors and infrastructure.
Finally, change in the said Clause was made and the word “endeavour to” was eliminated with an aim to ensure medical insurance to the people afflicted with mental problems, they said. As per the changes made in the Clause 21(2) in the Bill which was introduced in Parliament’s Monsoon Session, IRDA shall “ensure that all insurers make provisions for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of physical illness.”
Endorsing the change, the Parliamentary panel headed, by Rajya Sabha member Brajesh Pathak, noted that the Clause “which seeks to provide for acceptance of medical insurance policies for persons with mental illness by the insurance companies the same way as for physical illness is intended to eliminate the existing discriminatory provisions and would provide a great relief to persons with mental illness and their families”.