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The health insurance sector may see a big change soon as Health Exchange is planning to connect policyholders, insurers, and hospitals, sources told Zee Business.

Hospital plunder will cease and insurance companies' arbitrariness will end, say sources.

This comes on the back of the cashless claim settlement issue going on with some health insurance companies like Star Health Insurance.

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According to the sources:

- Hospitals and insurance companies will be stopped from arbitrarily exploiting and looting under the guise of unnecessary treatment and cashless treatment.

- Insurance companies will not be able to reject claims without reason.

- Health exchange to begin this financial year.

- Policyholders, insurance companies, and hospitals will be part of the exchange.

- Treatment rates will be uniform across hospitals based on grade.

- The Centre has written to the states.

- States asked to include hospitals as part of the exchange.

- Patients will receive standard and quality treatment everywhere.

- Uniform treatment will be mandatory in every hospital.

Also Read: No cashless treatment for Bajaj Allianz and CARE Health Insurance: AHPI

Last month, Zee Business reported that the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) directed all hospitals to suspend cashless hospitalisation services for Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and CARE Health Insurance.

Also Read: Not a single case of cashless denial: Bajaj Allianz after hospitals flag outdated rates

Meanwhile, in addition to working toward addressing any unresolved concerns, including tariff adjustments, by October 31, the Association of Healthcare Providers (AHPI) and Star Health & Allied Insurance have agreed to resume cashless services at AHPI-member hospitals starting on October 10. While senior industry executives and insurers negotiate an industry-level settlement, the agreement seeks to guarantee patients' continuous access to cashless care.

GST on health and life insurance premiums cut to zero

At the 56th GST Council meeting held on September 3, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced gst rate cut to zero on individual health insurance policies. This is a big relief for health and life insurance policyholders as they don't need to pay tax on their premiums. This has been implemented since September 22.

As of now, policyholders used to pay 18 per cent tax on insurance premiums, which is now reduced to zero. This means policyholders only need to pay the base premium now.

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