Page 15 - Insurance Times February 2024

The budget allocated for Ayushman sector watchdog to help achieve the ance for All" by 2047, which means
Bharat PM-JAY for the financial year IRDAI Vision 2047. every citizen will have appropriate life,
2023-24 is Rs 7,200 crore, which is The AHPI, representing a vast major- health and property insurance cover-
likely to more than double to around ity of private sector hospitals in the age and every enterprise will be sup-
Rs 15,000 crore in the financial year ported by appropriate insurance solu-
country, is also represented on the
2025. tions.
IRDAI advisory for the healthcare sec-
The AB PMJAY crossed the milestone tor. This can only happen if the govern-
of generating 30 crore Ayushman In an official letter, the AHPI said, "This ment insurance schemes are restruc-
cards on January 12. is a welcome move as making tured in a manner that more and more
With 4.83 crore cards, Uttar Pradesh healthcare available, accessible and af- tertiary-care hospitals come forward
tops the list of states having the maxi- fordable has been resolved by the and get empanelled in these schemes
mum Ayushman cards. Madhya present government." The AHPI is very to enable the beneficiaries to get
Pradesh and Maharashtra stand at much engaged in this initiative. Pen- healthcare services, the AHPI said.
number two and three positions with etration of private insurance is increas- "We have been requesting to have an
3.78 crore and 2.39 crore Ayushman ing at a fast pace and along with gov- independent agency that can restruc-
cards respectively, they said. ernment-run insurance, India should ture these schemes, including fixing re-
soon be covering 70 per cent of the imbursement rates for various medical
AHPI welcomes proposed population, which will be a milestone procedures on a scientific basis. With-
to achieve Universal Health Coverage out this, most hospitals are not com-
regulator exclusively for (UHC), it said. ing forward to empanel under these
health insurance The AHPI has suggested that the pro- schemes, depriving extending tertiary

The Association of Healthcare Provid- posed regulator, besides regulating the care to the beneficiaries under these
ers India (AHPI) has lauded the Minis- private insurance sector, must also schemes. We request that the pro-
try of Finance for contemplating set- cover all insurance schemes run by the posed regulator should also cover gov-
ting up an independent regulator for government, such as PMJAY, CGHS, ernment health insurance schemes,"
health insurance. ECHS, ESI etc. said Dr Girdhar Gyani, Director Gen-
The ministries of finance and health Under the IRDAI Vision 2047, the gov- eral, AHPI.
are in discussions over the need for a ernment is aiming to provide "Insur-
Group Health Policies lead

India registered 930,000 cancer deaths in 2019, says the way as medical infla-
study tion, retail premiums bite

India registered about 1.2 million new cancer cases and 930,000 deaths in As medical inflation surges along with
rising health insurance premiums, em-
2019, becoming the second highest contributor to the disease burden in
Asia for that year, according to a new study published in The Lancet Re- ployer group insurance has emerged as
gional Health Southeast Asia journal. the fastest-growing segment of health
insurance, according to the industry in-
Researchers found that India, along with China and Japan, were the three formation provided in the draft red
leading countries in Asia in terms of number of new cases and deaths, where herring prospectus of Medi Assist,
they say cancer has become a more significant public health threat with India's largest insurance third party ad-
9.4 million new cases and 56 lakh deaths in 2019.
ministrator (TPA) that is gearing up for
Of these, while China contributed the most with 4.8 million new cases and its IPO.
2.7 million deaths, Japan recorded about 900,000 new cases and 440,000 As per the 'Independent Market As-
deaths, the international team of researchers including those from the sessment of Health Benefits Adminis-
National Institute of Technology Kurukshetra and All India Institute of Medi- trators in Indian Health Insurance In-
cal Sciences (AIIMS), Jodhpur and Bathinda, said.
dustry' report by Frost & Sullivan com-
"We examined the temporal patterns of 29 cancers in 49 Asian countries missioned by Medi Assist, there has
between 1990 and 2019 using estimates from the Global Burden of Disease, been a 31% jump in insurance penetra-
Injuries and Risk Factors 2019 Study (GBD 2019)," they wrote in their study. tion postCovid aided by a significant

14 February 2024 The Insurance Times