BENGALURU: The Insurance Regulatory Authority of India (IRDAI) recently issued a circular to all insurance companies to comply with the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017, and make provisions for medical insurance of treatment for medical illnesses. The Act, mandating insurance cover for mental diseases, was passed three months ago.
Ashish Mehrotra, MD and CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance, said, “We welcome IRDAI’s move to include mental illnesses in the ambit of health insurance coverage for customers. This is indeed a long-awaited inclusion, much-needed for those dealing with any form of mental illness and have been beyond the ambit of insurance coverage so far.”
The state of mental health in the country has been alarming as a recent National Mental Health Survey indicates that 15 crore people at varying stages of mental illnesses need immediate intervention.
Further, reports suggest that stress is a major cause of depression and can lead to various mental illnesses.
“For people dealing with such situations, Max Bupa has designed a behavioural counselling feature in its GoActive plan which offers telephonic counselling for anything related to pre-marital issues, stress etc,” he added.