India is in active talks to investigate the feasibility of approving medical insurance claims for foreign individuals visiting India for Ayush treatments with other members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), specifically their insurance companies. Ayush includes all complementary and alternative medicine, such as homeopathy, yoga, naturopathy, unani, Siddha, and Ayurveda. With this program, anyone looking for these alternative treatments in India will have easier access to medical coverage, which might greatly increase the country’s appeal as a destination for medical tourism.
The mobility of health insurance is a major topic of discussion, as stated by Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary of the Ministry of Ayush. The intention is to make it possible for foreigners, such a German citizen, to obtain an Ayush visa and go to India to receive medical care at authorized facilities. These organizations would adhere to a set of globally recognized standards, guaranteeing that the medical claims would be substantiated and paid by the patient’s national insurance company.
With India being one of the rare exceptions, medical insurance policies do not currently generally cover alternative treatments. Thus, it is essential to standardize operating processes and treatment regimens in order to comply with worldwide standards. In addition to aiming to introduce ISO standards, the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has already released more than 50 standards for Ayush medications. These steps are meant to increase the legitimacy and acceptability of Ayush therapies on a worldwide scale, making it easier for them to be integrated into international insurance systems.
Kotecha underlined that achieving interoperability or portability of policies is the goal of discussions with OECD insurance companies. This implies that a foreign national should be able to submit a claim for alternative or traditional care received in India under their home country’s medical insurance policy. Standardizing procedures, persuading insurance companies of the scientific merits of alternative treatment modalities, and putting in place reliable fraud detection systems are necessary to achieve this.
The introduction of Ayush visas last year was a part of India’s plan to increase medical travel. Over 2 million people from 78 countries travel to India annually for a range of medical procedures, including IVF and wellness, which brings in a sizable amount of money. With the government’s “Heal in India” campaign supporting the business, forecasts indicate that this sum might expand dramatically, reaching $13 billion by 2026.
The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), which oversees insurance regulations in India, has ordered all insurance providers to pay for Ayush therapies in the same way that they do for conventional treatments. This directive is a part of a larger initiative to include complementary and alternative medicine into traditional healthcare, giving patients more alternatives for treatment and fostering the expansion of the Ayush industry.
These activities are already having an effect. The number of insurance claims for both conventional and alternative therapies has significantly increased. The total number of such claims for the first nine months of FY24, as of December 31, 2023, was 10,826, a 54 percent increase over the 7,006 claims for the whole FY23. Claims increased by 280% between the first nine months of FY24 and FY19.
In a similar vein, there has been an even more notable surge in the amount of money that insurance companies have disbursed for these claims. In the first nine months of FY24, disbursements increased from Rs.13.82 crore to Rs.75.52 crore, a 447 percent increase from FY23. In the first nine months of FY24, compared to FY19, disbursements climbed by over 1000 percent, from Rs.6.3 crore to Rs.75.52 crore. This increase suggests that both patients and insurers are becoming more accepting of and using Ayush medicines.
This tendency is further demonstrated by the increasing number of insurance policies in the Ayush category. There were about 280 different insurance plans available in this category from different firms as of the most recent data available. This growth is a reflection of the growing acceptance of Ayush remedies and the demand for insurance coverage that includes alternative medicine.
SOURCE:
MEDICAL DIALOGUES
