Introduction:
“In India insurance has a deep-rooted history; it is mention in writings of Manu, Yagnavalkya, and Kautilya. It has discuss the pooling of resources that could share during the calamities such as fire, floods, epidemics, and famines.”[1] Apart from this the fossils of insurance can be traced back in the form of marine trade loans , etc. The insurance in India has been evolve since then and in the year 1818 the life insurance business came in India with the establishment of Oriental life insurance company in Calcutta.
Evolution Of Health Insurance
Many believe that health insurance is the best care for health problems in India and also we can see this through the increase in the insurance premium recently. Also, there is a lot of optimism regarding the prospects of the health insurance business in India. “ The health insurance policy initially began as medical cover for the insured and his family. At this stage, the reimbursement of cashless facilities was not available under health insurance policies.” [2]
Initially it came with individual items listed under the policy but when in mid-nineties when Indian government adopted policies of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), the private hospital ad increasing demand for health care facilities increased the demand for health care facilities. “In 1986 when Mediclaim was first launched by the Indian government it offered minimum and maximum health coverage of INR 15000 and INR 500000 respectively.”[3] After the introduction of medical multiple private health insurance companies started appearing in the Indian market. “ Soon cashless media claims were introduced and the insured did not have to pay the hospital bills as they were directly settled by the insurer with the hospital. The evolving private sector led to the advent of a group of medical insurance.”[4]
Nowadays the health insurance companies offer different types of health insurance to suit the requirements of buyers. It also offers reimbursement plans along with cashless claim facilities. The recent developments in the health insurance market is the availability of online insurance which allows the buyer to compare health insurance online and buy it online.
Furthermore “ the health insurance in India predominantly covers hospitalization and not outpatient or domiciliary care.” [5] It can also be seen that the expenditure on outpatient has increased by almost 50 percent in the past decade. The initial forms of health insurance in India started from the initiatives by the government in two forms which are- Central government health insurance scheme for government employees and the Employees State Insurance Scheme for the employees of the private sector. Thus, health insurance has its origin in India since long back and has developed since then in India.
The Future Of Health Insurance In India
The government has started various schemes for health insurance in India to provide health cover to various people. The government in its budget allocation for the year 2016 to 2017. Also for the new health insurance program called Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Yojana is 15 billion Indian rupees. It has recently been increase to by about 6 billion rupees. Apart from the budget allocation for the schemes. The government has also started various schemes for the health insurance policies in India.
Conclusion
Health insurance has been mention in the old scriptures like Manusmriti and since then has been gradually evolving. Its business has been gradually increasing in India. As we can see that the insurance business first started in India in 1818; with the establishment of an insurance company in Calcutta. Also, after the independence, the government has framed various schemes. So that the insurance business and the benefit of the insurance cover should reach to maximum people in India. It has evolved so much so that it is now available online. People can buy health insurance according to their convenience.
References:
[1] Chapter 1.1 , Introduction to Health Insurance , https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/187650/9/09_chapter%201.pdfhttps://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/187650/9/09_chapter%201.pdf (( 1/7/2020 12.33 pm)
[2] History of Health Insurance in India, Indian Money , 6th July, 2019 , https://indianmoney.com/articles/history-of-health-insurance-in-india ( 2/7/2020 11.47 am)
[3] Policy Bazzar , A Glance at Evolution of Health Insurance in India , 15th May 2020, https://www.policybazaar.com/health-insurance/general-info/articles/a-glance-at-the-evolution-of-health-insurance-in-india/ ( 2/7/2020 12.22pm)
[4] Supra Note 2
[5] The Evolution of Health Insurance in India, Access Health International , https://accessh.org/evolution-health-insurance-india/https://accessh.org/evolution-health-insurance-india/ , 12th September, 2016 ( 3/7/2020 12.33 pm)
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