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Mumbai: The finance ministry will hold a second round of discussions with insurers and hospital groups around mid-January to address issues of rising medical inflation and steady increase in health insurance premiums, said people familiar with the matter.
The meeting will be chaired by financial services secretary M Nagaraju, with representatives from the General Insurance Council, the Association of Healthcare Providers (India) and senior executives from insurers and hospital chains.
“This meeting is to take stock of the proposed measures from the industry to bring down health insurance premiums and ensure more transparency in claim settlement. We will also discuss the role of Policyholders’ Education and Protection Fund, which has been envisaged through the Insurance Amendment Act, 2025,” said a government official, who did not wish to be identified.
The talks follow an initial meeting held in November, where the ministry flagged concerns over affordability and asked insurers and hospitals to work towards standardised treatment protocols, uniform hospital empanelment norms and faster, more seamless cashless claim processing. Officials believe these measures are critical to controlling costs and improving the policyholder experience amid increasing claims. It was emphasised that hospitals and insurance companies should work together to ensure transparency and efficiency and make healthcare affordable and accessible for policyholders, said a statement issued by the finance ministry.The ministry has also been examining regulatory options to curb sharp premium increases. One proposal under discussion is mandating prior approval from the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India in cases where insurers seek to raise premiums by more than 10% annually for policyholders, as reported earlier. This is similar to the regulator’s January 2025 directive for senior citizens, under which insurers were barred from increasing premiums by more than 10% a year without regulatory consultation for customers aged over 60.
Health insurance remains the largest segment within non-life insurance, accounting for 41.42% of total non-life premiums in 2024-25, up from 40.29% a year earlier.
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