Insurance regulator cites new Mental Healthcare Act in order
Mental health problems will henceforth the covered by insurance companies.
In a directive to insurers, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has laid down that mental health problems should be covered.
Referring to the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 that came into force on May 29 this year, IRDAI has asked insurance companies to comply with immediate effect. The Act says: “Every insurer shall make provision for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of physical illness”.
The overall incidence of mental illness in the Indian population was estimated to be 13.7%
India has a huge burden of mental illness that mostly goes undetected because of a dual barrier – there are not enough mental health professionals and there is also a huge societal resistance to accepting mental illness as just another disease. The National Mental Health Survey released last year estimated that every sixth Indian suffers from a mental health problem.
The overall incidence of mental illness in the population was estimated to be 13.7%. There were differences in mental illness prevalence among states. The lowest lifetime prevalence of 8.1% in Assam and the highest lifetime prevalence of 19.9% in Manipur. A particularly vulnerable age group was supposed to be people aged between 40-49 years where the common complaints were psychotic disorders, bipolar disorders depressive disorders, and neurotic and stress related disorders.
Picture Courtsey: todaytesting.com
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