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When the stick is also the carrot: IRDAI's order that insurers must cover mental illness is good for business

When the stick is also the carrot: IRDAI's order that insurers must cover mental illness is good for business
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Synopsis

On August 16, the regulator asked insurers to start treating mental illness on a par with physical illness. While this is great news for India’s huge mentally ill population, focussing only on that undermines a point that’s critical for the long-term sustainability of the provision.

By &
11 mins read,
"Without any fuss." In popular imagination, those aren’t words associated with insurance claims. Especially if your illness is the kind Vijay Nallawala has been living with. In 2003, Nallawala was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental illness known to set off extreme mood swings which can make the patient lose all judgment and commit frightening excesses. He was asked to get hospitalised immediately. At the end of his week-long treatment at
( Originally published on Aug 27, 2018 )

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