Title: The Current Scenario of Mental Health Insurance in India

Speaker: Ms Madhurima Ghosh

Abstract: In a developing country like India private out-of-pocket expenditure rules the cost of financing health care. According to National Health Accounts (2016), 64.2% of the total health expenditure is out-of-pocket payments. Out of pocket expenditure mainly consists of direct costs such as doctor’s consultation fees, medicine charges, laboratory and other diagnostic charges. India’s population in 2022 is more than 1 billion and more than 150 million people require mental health services. Mental Health Care Act, 2017 is a welcome step towards the changing face of health insurance and giving equal importance to physical and mental illness. Still, there is a huge gap between the developed nations and the developing nations in the case of mental health insurance. There are a lot of factors which hinder the development of the mental health insurance industry in India. Thus it is evident that different industrialised nations have already taken care of the problem of mental health with utmost care. Either Government or private insurers have formulated several insurance products to ease the burden of payment for chronic illnesses.

Chair: Prof. Sangeeta Shroff

Date: 28th April 2022

Time: 4:30 PM to 5:30 PM

Venue: Seminar Hall, Main Building

Ms Madhurima Ghosh is currently working as a Senior Research Associate in The Banyan, an NGO in Chennai which has been working with the homeless population with mental illness.

Link to the paper.

Kindly make it convenient to attend.