Supremely sensible

Sukumar Vellakkal
Posted: Friday, Jun 06, 2008 at 2118 hrs IST
Updated: Friday, Jun 06, 2008 at 2118 hrs IST

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: renewal for senior citizens or for the exclusion of pre-existing diseases, if we really aim for universal and comprehensive HI schemes for the country. Instead, government should intervene. Let insurance companies design separate HI schemes for senior citizens (above 60 years) and for general age categories (below 60 years). Already, the public health insurance companies have announced special HI schemes for senior citizens based on the directives of the central government. The same should be extended to the private sector as well. And, if the premia are commercially unviable the government should subsidise these schemes to compensate for the loss on them. Further, IRDA should permit insurance companies to make family insurance compulsory rather than single senior citizen insurance. That will reduce the magnitude of the adverse selection problem.

—The author is fellow at ICRIER, New Delhi. Email: svellakkal@icrier.res.in...

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