Health Insurance Policies To Cover Mental Illness From November 1

Earlier, most health insurance policies did not cover mental illness irrespective of being pre-existing or diagnosed after the policy purchase. However, that will change from November 1.

Health Insurance Policies Cover Widens: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has made it compulsory for all health insurance policies to cover mental illnesses. Earlier, most health insurance policies did not cover mental illness irrespective of being pre-existing or diagnosed after the policy purchase. However, that will change from November 1.

This Will Cover Both New And Old Insurance Plans

“This mandatory coverage means that the insurers will have to consider mental illnesses the same way as physical illnesses, both in the old and new policies. That means the insured will be covered for hospitalisation expenses towards treatments of mental illnesses, too,” ET quotes Siddharth Singhal, Business Head-Health Insurance, Policybazaar.com

The New Rule Will Make It Mandatory To Cover All Kind Of Mental Illnesses

The diseases like dementia and Alzheimer’s were not covered by basic comprehensive health policies earlier. Not anymore. “All mental illnesses such as dementia, depression and bipolar disorder shall be covered unless some specific exclusions are mentioned in the policy,” says Singhal.

Will OPD Cost Of Mental Illness Be Covered?

Most health insurance coverage works only when 24 hours of hospitalisation is needed. These policies will cover any mental illness where such hospitalisation is needed.

However, there are many new insurance policies that offer OPD coverage. What happens here in case of a mental illness diagnosis? “If the customer has purchased an OPD cover, then the costs towards doctor consultations, diagnostic tests, etc, shall also be provided by the insurer,” says Singhal.