Finance ministry asks hospitals, insurers to make healthcare affordable and accessible for policyholders

The finance ministry on Thursday asked hospitals and insurance companies to make healthcare affordable and accessible for policyholders in view of instances of unreasonable increase in medical expenses.

Financial Services Secretary M Nagaraju chaired a meeting of representatives of leading insurers, hospitals, General Insurance Council and Association of Healthcare Providers (India) to discuss the issue of medical inflation and rising premium costs.

The secretary advised insurers and hospitals to take measures such as devising standardised treatment protocols, common empanelment norms, seamless cashless claims processing, etc, to bring down health insurance costs, Department of Financial Services said in a post on X.

It was emphasised that the hospitals and insurance companies should work together to ensure transparency and efficiency and make healthcare affordable and accessible for policyholders.