Insurance for at-home treatments due to bed shortage? IRDAI to examine if patients are eligible for claims

The HC noted that the majority of people would not be able to get any benefit under insurance policies as they could not get hospitalisation not because of their fault but due to lack of infrastructure.

New Delhi: On Thursday (May 27), the Delhi High Court has directed the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) to understand if people, who weren’t able to get hospitalisation due to lack of beds, can avail an insurance cover or not.  Amid the second wave of coronavirus in the country, almost all hospitals in metro cities and tier 2 and 3 towns ran out of beds. At that many patients weren’t able to avail medical facilities, even if they were battling with some other disease than Covid-19.  The High Court has now directed IRDA to update the court with a status report within four weeks. The division bench noted that the insurance policies in existence are not covering domiciliary claims unless the insured person is hospitalised.