The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has constituted a 15-member committee to look into various needs in the health insurance sector for ease of doing business and better services to customers.
IRDAI member Rakesh Joshi will lead the committee, which is expected to meet at least once a quarter to discuss the progress of activities mandated by the members.
The committee has been given a two-year tenor to suggest ways to identify challenges and mitigate problems across the sector.
It will suggest ways to integrate various health insurance services into the e-platform envisaged by IRDAI, the regulator said in an order.
The committee’s larger goal is to standardise the rules for insurance providers to collect and analyse data, identify concerns related to policyholder servicing, create a simple, standard product design, and facilitate ease of doing business.
IRDAI said the committee would recommend steps to identify issues in the entire value chain to increase the penetration of health insurance in India.
It stressed that public awareness would be critical to address the challenges.
The notification said the health consultative committee would meet physically or virtually at least once a quarter and more frequently, if necessary.
IRDAI noted that health insurance should constantly evolve to cater to the needs of people looking for protection mechanisms for health expenses and “keep pace with the changing canvas of healthcare.”
According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), released by the government in May this year, 41 per cent of Indian households had at least one individual covered by a health insurance scheme. The 2019-21 survey showed a significant improvement in the country’s health insurance coverage, although it was far from satisfactory.
