GIC, IRDAI want a healthcare regulator. But who can regulate better than the consumer?

Hospital bills in India are becoming more expensive, and a growing number of people are one medical emergency away from going bankrupt. Even for those with health insurance, the costs are going up.In fact, patients who tell hospitals that they have coverage are charged more than others, which leads to higher premiums. It’s a prevalent practice that the chairman and managing director of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC), Ramaswamy Narayanan, characterises as “a systematic form of fraud”.This has led both GIC and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irdai), to call for the Indian government to create a new regulator that will bring healthcare prices back under control.The Ken reporter Sudeshna Ray has the story in this edition of Make India Competitive Again, as read by Snigdha Sharma.Read this edition as a newsletter: https://the-ken.com/newsletter/make-india-competitive-again/gic-irdai-want-a-healthcare-regulator-but-who-can-regulate-better-than-the-consumer/