India’s General Insurance Council to punish overcharging hospitals

Punishment ranges from warnings to permanent blacklists.

India’s General Insurance Council will take serious action against any hospitals that overcharge health insurance policyholders and are indulging in fraud, S. Prakash, Executive Committee member said.

Prakash warned that the industry will now start to identify and take action against these hospitals.

"We want to send a strong signal to the hospitals. The action against the hospitals could be. issuance of a warning letter, suspension of cashless facility and even exclude (blacklist) the hospital as a service provider except in the case of an emergency,” Prakash said. He said that the Council will also have an appellate mechanism where the affected hospital can make its appeal.

Prakash said that the majority of businesses that hospitals in major cities come from patients holding health insurance policies. He also added that the topline of the non-life insurers contributes to the bottomline of most hospitals.