IRDAI asks Insurers to provide insurance cover for mental illness before October 31 - Details inside

Section 21 of the Mental Health Care Act 2017 makes mandatory for every insurer to create provisions for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available of physical illness.

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New Delhi: The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) has notified the insurance companies to give cover for mental illness under health insurance policies. The Circular issued by IRDAI also said to implement the compliance before October 31, 2022.

“All insurance products shall cover mental illness and comply with the provisions of the MHC Act, 2017 without any deviation. Insurers are requested to confirm compliance before October 31, 2022,” IRDAI said.

Section 21 of the Mental Health Care Act 2017 says “Every insurer shall make provision for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of phsyical illness. The new act came into force in India in May 2018.

According to the act, “Mental illness means a susbtantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation, or memory that grossly impairs judgement, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life, mental conditions associated with the abuse of alcohol and drugs, but does not include mental retardation which is a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person, specially characterised by sub normality of intelligence."