HYDERABAD: The Telangana government has released “discreetly” a Government Order, for amending GO 248 issued earlier that had fixed a price cap on treatment and testing for Covid-19 in private hospitals. The amended version of the GO 248, the GO 281, which is in possession of Express, mentions that the price cap does not apply to patients who subscribe to insurance as mode of payment. The GO says, “The rates are not applicable to patients subscribing insurance schemes, as well as patients being treated under various agreements/MoUs, entered into the hospitals and different sponsored groups or corporate entities.”
This comes as an important development, as there have been many instances in Hyderabad where the insurance companies paid a small amount of the bills charged by private hospitals to Covid-19 patients for treatment, citing the price cap by the Telangana government. As a result, patients had to suffer despite having medical insurance because the hospitals asked them to pay the difference between what the insurance company paid and the actual billing amount.
The GO 248 by the Telangana government has fixed the maximum amount of Rs 9,000 per day which includes various diagnostic tests, doctor consultations, catheterisation, bed charges and meals.
In a recent incident at a well-known corporate hospital, the patient was charged Rs 4.2 lakh for Covid-19 treatment but the insurance company paid the hospital only Rs 1.23 lakh. As a result the patient was asked by the hospital to pay the remaining Rs 3 lakh. Interestingly this issue occurred and gained a lot of limelight on July 3, which was also reported by Express. The amended GO 281 excluding patients subscribing to medical insurance from the price cap, was released on July 6.