Symposium on Mental health care insurance (24th Feb, 2014)

Importance of Mental health care insurance
D. Dutta Roy
ISI., Kolkata

Number of new policies in health insurance is growing after privatization. It mainly covers general health insurance rather mental health care insurance (MHCI) though World Health Organization predicted 20% growth of mental illness in India. There is no systematic study on insurance needs of the beneficiaries. As a result, many mentally ill people are under-insured or non-insured. This  causes difficulty to provide adequate mental health care through systematic insurance policies and schemes. On the other hand they are stigmatized by the society and sometimes they are abused. Abuse aggravates the severity of the symptoms.
  Mental health care system in India is plagued with lot of stigma still now. Major stigma is collective unwillingness of society to provide adequate financial assistance to the mentally ill people. Again, this causes serious sufferings on family members of the mentally ill. One good family is easily affected by the presence of one depressed person. Depression is inversely related to productivity. So depression causes huge loss in national productivity. No body can give assurance that he or his family will not be affected by mental illness. Mental illness can happen any where in any person without giving any alert message like accident. 
   On this back drop, Psychology Research Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute conducted one-day  symposium on ' Mental Health Care Insurance' on 24th February at the premise of the Indian Statistical Institute. The report of symposium is given below. 

REPORT
1. Inaugural session
Professor Tarun Kabiraj, Professor of Economics in his inaugural address mentioned the contribution of Indian Statistical Institute in National level planning. He also mentioned that with limited human resources, Psychology Research Unit of the Institute functions well. He released one book of abstracts on Mental Health Care Insurance (MHCI) compiled by Dr. D. Dutta Roy
   Dr. Debdulal Dutta Roy, convener of the symposium initially delineated scope and six objectives of the symposium. The Six objectives are to discuss about (a)     Context and Historical Development of Mental Health Insurance; (b)    Analysis of Mental health insurance Care Needs; (c)    Epidemiological survey models for identification of beneficiaries and need analysis; (d)    Mental health care Insurance Delivery; (e)   Mental Health Care Insurance Coverage and premium determination; and (f)    Operational Challenges and HRD for mental health care insurance.

     In the key note address, Shri Ashok Poddar, ( Ex-Secretary of the Acturarial, Central office, Mumbai) focused on importance of MHCI. He opined that MHCI can control the vulnerability of mentally ill person and can protect them from the abuse. He has highlighted the shift in mental health care from custodial care to community care for the mentally ill people. He suggested that MHCI is related to protection of human rights specially right to health. Shri Poddar highlighted probable risk factors for determining the premium and coverage.
     Dr. Rumki Gupta gave vote of thanks in the inauguration.

2. First technical session
After the inauguration, technical session started. First technical session was chaired by Professor Bikas Kumar Sinha (Visiting Professor,Visiting Professor of Statistics [2013] Department of Mathematics and Statistics University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), Professor of Statistics (Retired) Math-Stat Division/Applied Statistics Division Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, India , Ex-member of the National Statistical Commision Of the Govt. of India ). Professor Sinha shared his own experience and stressed on implementation of MHCI.
    Six resource persons presented their papers in the first technical session. 
Professor Divyagopal Mukherjee (HOD, Department of Psychiatry, R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata) in his talk titled 'Mental Health Care Needs of patients with severe mental illness' presented his case study about insurance needs of mentally ill persons 
(Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, recurrent depressive disorders and obsessive compulsive disorder). He collected data from 75 mentally ill person and their caregivers through the survey based instrument. Results  show unawareness of insurance benefits among the mentally ill persons and their care givers though they felt its importance in their quality of lives. 
   Dr. Parthasarathi Kundu (Psychiatrist,West Bengal health service) in his talk ' Pharmacoeconomics and its application in Mental health insurance' discussed about economic appraisal of medical costs and health outcome. He highlighted cost benefit analysis in health related quality of life. He suggested inclusion of this model in determining premium for MHCI.
    Professor Debasis Sengupta ( Applied Statistics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata) in his talk titled ' Mental health insurance in India: Rules of the game, opportunities and obstacles ' discussed risk factors in insurance. The risk should be financially quantifiable and the risk event should be ‘small’. These risks should be independent and ‘Moral hazards’ should be eliminated. He suggested risk pooling model to determine the claims. He also stated how to deal with heterogeneous claims. 
     Dr. Debasish Sanyal (M.D., Psychiatriy, Associate Professor, MMCH ) discussed history of insurance initially.  As per the mental health care bill,  2013,, IRDA shall endeavour to ensure that all insurers make provisions for medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis is available for treatment of Physical illness - he stated. Dr. Sanyal identified seven reasons for which mental illness is kept out of insurance - stigma, therapeutic nihilism,  gross misunderstandings about prevalence of mental illness,  scepticism about effective detection,  perceived high cost of insurance,  lack of effective data to implement insurance, lack of good MHCI prototype. Title of his presentation is ' Deterministic model of health care insurance : Perspective of Psychiatrist. 
     Dr. Nupur Pavan Bang  (Head, Analytics,  Insurance Information Bureau of India) presented paper titled ' Mental health insurance and analytics '.  Dr. Bang reported that there is no mental health insurance even though it is estimated ( in all probability a low estimate) that of all health disorders,  one sixth is related to mental illness of some form. She said that MHCI coverage could be state initiated, made mandatory by law or could be voluntarily offered by the insurance companies.  There is need for an organized nationwide survey to collect data which will help the state as well as the insurers to design appropriate policies for the benefit of people suffering from mental illness. 
   Shri Sandip Bhowmick and Shri Nirmalya  Sil (Actuarial department, LIC ) in their paper titled' Mental health care insurance ? Feasibility and Pricing ' suggested some pricing techniques to design health insurance products as equation of value, multi-state modelling in cash flow method,  stochastic model etc. They also presented mental health related underwriting. 
     After lunch break,  2nd technical session started. 

2. Technical session 2

This was chaired by Dr. Sisir Kr. Majumdar (Retd. Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, London, British National Health Services). He stressed on MHCI. This is panel discussion.  Professor Mallika Banerjee ( Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta) and Prof.Pradeep Kumar Saha (HOD, Hon.State Secretary,Indian Medical Council (Academics), Convenor,Preventive Psychiatry, Indian Psychiatric Society) were the panelists in this session. Aim of this session was to discuss about 'Mental health care protocol, premium determination and coverage'. Prof Banerjee stressed on inclusion of developmental disabilities in MHCI. She suggested long term therapy instead of treatment.  Prof. Saha shared his practical experience and emphasised on MHCI.
After coffee break,  next technical session started. 
3. Technical session 3.
This session was chaired by 
Professor R J Pandey.  (Retd. Professor, Statistical and Quality control unit, ISI., Kolkata). He stressed on statistical modelling in insurance product design.  Shri A.K. Poddar, Shri Sandip Bhowmick and Shri Nirmalya Sil were the panelists in this session.  They identified some areas of study in future for product design and analysis of risk factors.  These areas are (a) heredity,  environmental and residential influence,  age, sex, ethnic group, socio-economic group,  occupation,  access to medical facilities on incidence of mental illness ; (b) financial needs of suffering;  (c) treatment options for mental health. 


US RESEARCH
On 6 March, 2014 the Stanford Daily published a report titled " A Golden Age of Mental Health " . It describes mental health insurance support to mentally ill person in US.
    In the 2008, through the Wellness -domestic mental health priority and addiction Act, more than 100 million Americans who receive insurance through large employers are now guaranteed that their mental health-related benefits will be comparable to those for the treatment of other disorders. Also in 2008, a major effort to reform Medicare passed, one that critically included a little-noticed mental health provision that just came into full effect this year. Since its creation, Medicare had covered 80% of all outpatient care except for mental health and addiction treatment, only 50% of which was covered. This extremely high co-payment effectively prevented many Medicare recipients from receiving mental health care. Today, however, the 50 million senior citizens and disabled persons who rely on Medicare enjoy the same level of coverage for outpatient psychiatric care as they do for all other types of medical treatment. 

The 2010 Affordable Care Act is even more transformative. The law allows a parent to keep their children on family health insurance until the age of 26, thereby fully covering the age range in which almost all serious mental illnesses and addictions begin. Furthermore, the law defines insurance coverage for mental illness and addiction care as “essential health benefits.” As a result, both the Medicaid expansion and the private plans sold on health exchanges all cover care for psychiatric disorders at the same level as other diseases. The Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 60 million Americans will receive improved mental health insurance coverage because of the provisions of the ACA.

The public policy revolution constituted by these three laws will literally be lifesaving for many American families. They also reflect a welcome cultural shift: mental health care has gone mainstream. Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, despite their markedly different political views, nonetheless both supported expanded access to mental health care. Even during the bitter, hyper-partisan fight over the Affordable Care Act, its mental health-related provisions were largely uncontroversial in both major political parties.

Virtually everyone in this country, Republican or Democrat, Texan or Oregonian, young or old, rich or poor knows a family that has grappled with addiction or mental illness. This common knowledge has produced a rare moment of national agreement to respond to these disorders with the same seriousness and compassion as we do to cancer and heart disease.

The challenges of mental health care remain significant—most particularly, the need to expand the pool of trained providers to respond to the needs of the many individuals who, now that they can afford to do so, will be seeking help this year for the first time. But the most fundamental victory—persuading American society that mental health problems are legitimate disorders worthy of effective treatment—has already been won, setting the stage for what should be a golden age of mental health.

Keith Humphreys, Ph.D.

Professor and Director of Mental Health Policy, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University

Contact Professor Humphreys at knh@stanford.edu.

Ref:http://www.stanforddaily.com/2014/03/06/a-golden-age-of-mental-health/

Read
http://www.apapracticecentral.org/update/2013/11-07/medicare-outpatient.aspx


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Dear Sir/Madam Symposium on Mental Health Care Insurance held on 24th February at Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata was successful in identifying basic needs of Mental health care insurance plan through the active participation and deliberations of resource persons. Actuarial Researchers, Applied Statisticians, Psychiatrists and Psychologists were the resource persons. The symposium was organized by the Psychology Research Unit of the Institute. Aim of Symposium is to explore deterministic model of Mental health care insurance. After, prolonged deliberations, followings are extracted.

1. DEFINITION: Mental health care insurance or MHCI is insurance for protection of insured person from any financial loss due to psychological or psychiatric abnormalities. Insurance support may be provided to improve quality of life of insured person.  Later one can meet therapeautic and prolonged rehabilitation cost.

2. FINANCIAL LOSS: Here financial loss involves financial expenditure not only for medicine, hospitalization but psychological counseling and rehabilitation also.

3. BENEFICIARIES:  MHCI beneficiaries will be both mentally ill and mentally disabled persons.

4. DETERMINANTS :  Purchase of MHCI package is determined by age, sex, socioeconomic condition, degree of severity, duration of illness, recovery and relapse rates, perceived value of insurance and perceived needs of the guardians or care givers of insured person. 

In order to explore different inputs for mental health care insurance survey research, this One-daysymposium has focused on the following issues. 

1.     Context and Historical Development of Mental Health Insurance

2.     Analysis of Mental health insurance Care Needs

3.     Epidemiological survey models for identification of beneficiaries and need analysis

4.     Mental health care Insurance Delivery

5.     Mental Health Care Insurance Coverage and premium determination

6.     Operational Challenges and HRD for mental health care insurance.

Date: 24th February, 2014. 

Context and Historical Development of Mental Health Insurance

The process of insurance has been evolved to safeguard the interests of people from uncertainty by providing certainty of payment at a given contingency.


The insurance principle comes to be more and more used and useful in modern affairs.
Not only does it serve the ends of individuals, or of special groups of individuals, it tends to pervade and to transform our modern social order, too. The role and importance of insurance, here, has been discussed in three phases: (i) uses to individual, (ii) uses to a special group of individuals, viz., to business or industry, and (iii) uses to the society.

Group insurance and MHPAEA






nsurance is a defensive measure used against future conditional losses to hedge the possible risks of the future. It is a legal contract that protects a person from contingent risk of losses through financial means and provides a means for individuals and societies to handle some of the risks faced in daily life.
These contracts of insurance are called policies and are provided by insurance companies. The Insurance companies charge a regular amount from the customers, which is paid back, either in part, or entirety, to the customers in case of a definite loss. This regular amount charged from customers is called Insurance Premium.
REASONS OF INSURANCE:
Sometimes in life it is not possible to avoid the losses. For example People may become ill. They may die of illness or accidents or their homes or other property may undergo damage or theft. So in all these cases and they have to face the loss of income or savings. So insurance is a manner of financially insuring that if such an incident comes about then the loss does not affect the present well being of the person.
DOCTRINES OF INSURANCE:
1 There should be a certain definite loss taken place at a known time, in a known place and from a known cause. Therefore the time, place and the cause of loss should be clear enough.
2 The incident that represent the cause of the claim should be accidental or beyond the control of the beneficiary.
3 The size of the loss must be significant from the perspective of the insured. Insurance premiums should cover both the estimated cost of losses, plus the cost of policy, regulating the losses, and providing the principal required to logically assure that the insurer would be able to reimburse claims.
4 The amount of premium should be affordable.
5 The possibility of loss and the cost of compensation should be calculable or estimable
TYPES OF INSURANCE:
Below are some kinds of insurances.
LIFE INSURANCE:
Life insurance policy insures the life of the insured. The insurance company is legally bound to provide a monetary benefit to a decedent's family or the beneficiary after the death of the policyholder. The proceeds are paid to the beneficiary either in a lump sum amount or an annuity
MEDICAL INSURANCE:
Medical insurance is also called medclaim. Under this policy the insurance policy pays the amount to the insured for his health purpose. This amount covers the cost of medical treatment.
DISABILITY INSURANCE:
There are two types of disability insurance.One is simple disability insurance and the other is total disability insurance. In case of simple disability insurance,a financial support on monthly basis is provided by the insurer to the policy holder if he is unable to work due to an injury or an illness. But permanent disability insurance provides the reimbursement if a person becomes permanently disabled.
GENERAL INSURANCE:
It includes automobiles insurance, business insurance, property insurance etc.
Automobile insurance:
In UK this insurance is called motor insurance. It compensates the loss or damage occurred to the vehicle. But in United States auto insurance policy is essential to legally operate a vehicle on public roads.
Business insurance:
Business insurance protects the businesses against risks of losses and damages and compensates in case of loss
Property insurance:
This type of insurance protects the property against the risks like fire, theft etc. This category also includes fire insurance, flood insurance, earthquake insurance etc
Fire Insurance:
It is an insurance covering the damage to the property caused by fire.
Flood Insurance:
This type of insurance pays the policy holder in case of any loss or damage to the property due to flood. It protects the property against the flooding.
Earthquake Insurance:
This insurance compensates any damage to the property caused by earthquake.
IMPORTANCE OF INSURANCE:
Insurance plays an important role in sharing the risks of people in an affordable form.It helps the people to quickly recover from damages and losses.

Sadaf

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1180554

Life Insurance is considered to be an important part of an individual’s investment portfolio, not necessarily to accumulate wealth, but to feel financially secure. Other then this when you opt for a life insurance policy you enjoy other benefits also, like tax-deduction options, and in some cases long term capital gains. What is important when you opt for a policy is the term and plan related to that particular policy. Always remember Life Insurance is primarily made keeping your family and those who are dependent on you in mind. There are various companies that would ask you to opt for a policy from them, and incase if you are an amateur investor and try to push things in a hurry, you might end up settling for a wrong deal. Here, we will discuss on a few guidelines that an individual should follow prior to opting for a policy or while assessing an insurance plan.

When you decide to invest in Life Insurance, it is imperative that you understand your financial status, your future liabilities & commitments and then opt for a policy that would suit your needs in the longer run. Insurance is by and large regarded as one of the best savings cum investing scheme. Students who earn while studying and those who take up full time employment after their studies see insurance as a profitable scheme to regulate their savings. Important factors that an individual needs to understand prior to opting for Life Insurance Policies are 1) Requirements, term (duration) and premium to be paid 2) Nature and benefits of the policy in the longer run & 3) Coverage of the policy. The need and income of an individual helps him decide the amount of Life Insurance Premium. The insured should also think about the benefits that he and / or his nominee will receive before deciding to go for a particular policy. Life insurance covers the risks of loss due to the death of the insurer. Hence it is advisable that before you purchase the policy; take a look at the plan of the policy in detail. Most of the Life Insurance Companies would provide you with a ULIP (Unit Link Insurance Plan). Consulting an expert or your friends, & other reliable sources like the internet, that would provide accurate data helps. Analyzing the different categories of insurance, conducting a proper market research, checking your financial constraints where you ensure that you pay your insurance premiums simultaneously is important.

Ideally all life insurance companies invest the insurance premium funds in the various types of projects meant for developments and attractive returns. This project varies from government funded bonds to private companies. As an investor and depending upon your risk tolerance you can divide your investment funds in various modes which can be Balance, Maximizer, and Minimizer. Balance fund manager will invest your fund equally in government sector bonds as well as in private sector. In Maximizer mode your complete fund is invested in private equity market, which completely depends on market conditions. This fund at times may give you unexpected results and at times may even ruin your principal amount. In the last type of investments the fund is completely engaged in government bonds, wherein risk is almost null with assured returns.

Like other investment modules Life Insurance also has advantages and disadvantages. The prime advantage is financial security for the obvious reasons. It helps facilitates economic movements. Life insurance companies collect premiums from multiple investors hence gathering large funds. This money is used to finance trade and other financial development activities. Last but not the least it helps in reduction of tax payments. Policy holders are entitled to claim income tax exemptions for paying the premiums. The amount and the extent to which they are allowed depends on other factors like the persons income and if the insurer is a private player or run by the state. Drawbacks include incompetent facilities as all Life Insurance Companies are not able to provide the exact kind of life insurance policy as desired by consumers. Moreover the services of insurance agents could sometimes do more bad than good. Some of them try to convince their clients to invest more or to choose certain policies which are not much beneficial to the clients. A person will find himself in trouble if he invests more than what is actually required. But as the number of advantages out numbers the disadvantages, investing in Life Insurance is always considered to be a good move.

Another important factor that needs attention during the framing of the policy is Life Insurance Quotes. Life Insurance quotes are the prices at which life insurance policies are proposed to be sold and vary from company to company or individual to individual, mainly depending on the term of the policy. Other important issues that address the quotes are age and income, the physical features and family details of the insurer. The time through which an insured pays the premium for the policy is called Life Insurance term. On a general basis, there are no standard premiums as far as term insurance is concerned. A person can decide the amount to be paid on the basis of his requirements in terms of coverage and affordability in terms of finance. As of now the top 5 life insurance companies in India are Reliance Life Insurance, HDFC standard Life insurance, Bharti-axa life insurance, ICICI Prudential life and off-course LIC India. The following companies were considered after being judged on parameters such as the insurance quotes, the term that the insured had to pay the premium for, the cover that the policy was covering, etc, etc. All in all getting an insurance done for yourself at the earliest, once you start earning is an excellent way to get your financial future secured.

Important dates:
Last date of registration: 15th February,2014
Symposium date: 24th February










Web
Registered Participants:

LIST OF REGISTERED CANDIDATES

Dr. Anindya Roy, Psychiatrist, RG Kar hospital

Shri Madhumita Banerjee,Rehabilitation Psychologist, Bikashyan

Smt. Soma Bose Biswas,Finance, NIT

Shivani Santosh, SRF, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Anurupa Kundu, SRF, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Sravanti Adhikari, JRF, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Sumona Datta, JRF, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Manjusha Adak, Project linked person, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Jayeta Dhara,Project linked person, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Parama Gupta, Project linked person, Psychology Research Unit, Kolkata

Ishita Sanyal, Founder Director, Turning Point

Jayati Adhikari, Special Educator, Medica Superspeciality Hospital

Rajyasree Bandyopadhyay, Psychologist

Number of new policies in health insurance is growing after privatization. It mainly covers general health insurance rather mental health care insurance though World Health Organization predicted 20% growth of mental illness in India. There is no systematic study on insurance needs of the beneficiaries. As a result, many mentally ill people are under insured or non-insured. This causes difficulty to provide adequate mental health care through systematic insurance policies and schemes.

Psychology Research Unit of the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata  is going to organize symposium on 'Mental health care insurance ' on 24th February, 2014 (Monday). Aim of the symposium is to explore determinants of Mental health care insurance Premium, coverage and delivery. This One-day symposium will focus  on the following issues.
1. Context and Historical Development of Mental Health Insurance;
2. Analysis of Mental health insurance Care Needs;
3. Epidemiological survey models for identification of beneficiaries and need analysis;
4. Mental health care Insurance Delivery;
5. Mental Health Care Insurance Coverage and premium determination;
6. Operational Challenges and HRD for mental health

We will be glad if you can contribute your valuable ideas on the above.We are inviting you to the Indian Statistical Institute. Senior scientists in Mental health profession  (psychiatrist, psychotherapist, psychological counsellor), in health analysis, actuarial statistics and insurance management are invited. Besides  individual speech of eminent resource persons, there will be panel discussion about mental health care protocol and need analysis.
    No registration fee is required.  We can not provide TA and DA for the same. Working lunch will  be provided. Our seats are very limited. Please register your name before 15th February, 2014 by filling the form below  to the address:  Dr. D. Dutta Roy, Convener, Symposium on Mental Health Care Insurance, Psychology Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal - 700108

E-mail: psy@isical.ac.in/ dduttaroy@yahoo.com

Please write 'Symposium on Mental Health Care Insurance' in the subject of E-mail so that your mail can be easily identified.

Ref:
http://www.mentalhealth.gov/get-help/health-insurance/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-08/u-s-said-to-announce-new-rule-for-mental-health-coverage.html
http://www.webmd.com/health-insurance/20131108/white-house-boosts-insurance-coverage-for-mental-illness

Youtube -Bapu trust
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQ3vvGaqck4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOuf-8ral0E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7BDq0lz0-0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqJeToDB1u0 (CPT codes)
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FOCUSED GROUP DISCUSSION ON MENTAL HEALTH CARE INSURANCE

TITLE : UNDERWRITING ON MENTAL HEALTH CARE INSURANCE

TIME:  12 Noon

Venue: ICICI LOMBARD GIC LTD, 7^TH FLOOR, APEEJAY HOUSE, 15,PARK STREET, NEXT TO PARK HOTEL, KOLKATA – 700 016.

RESOURCE PERSONS:

·         Mr. Sanjay Datta is Chief– Underwriting & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, the largest private sector general insurance company in India.

·         Dr Sumita – Analytics of ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, the largest private sector general insurance company in India.

·         Professor Mallika Banerjee, Department of Psychology, University of Calcutta. Director of Pradip, Centre for Autism Management. Member of the disability commission, West Bengal

·         Professor Divyagopal Mukherjee (HOD, Department of Psychiatry, R G Kar Medical College, Kolkata). He conducted research on insurance needs of psychiatric disorders.

·         Prof.Pradeep Kumar Saha. Head,Institute of Psychiatry., Hon.State Secretary,Indian Medical Council (Academics), Convenor,Preventive Psychiatry of the Indian Psychiatric Society.

·         Dr. Debdulal Dutta Roy, Assistant Professor, Psychology Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, Governing council member of Insurance Information Bureau of India. Executive council member, Indian Academy of Applied Psychology (IAAP), Division convener of psychological assessment, National Academy of Psychology (NAOP).

·         Ms. Sumona Datta, Junior Research Fellow, Psychology Research Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata.

Dear Colleagues

This refers to our symposium on Mental Health Care Insurance held in the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata dated 24^{t h} February, 2014.

In the 5^th Governing Council of the Insurance Information Bureau, I placed the report. The board appreciates our initial effort and finally suggests me to present the scheme in business proposition. One member advised me to meet ICICI LOMBARD to understand their Niramay scheme (http://www.niramayascheme.com/niramaya)  under National trust of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment, Govt. of India. This scheme is to provide affordable Health Insurance to persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation & Multiple Disabilities.

Mr. Sanjay Datta is Chief– Underwriting & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company Limited, the largest private sector general insurance company in India has been kindly agreed to meet with us informally. He'd be accompanied by Dr Sumita. She completed masters in hospital administration from TISS, MUMBAI. She joined ICICI Lombard in 2006. She has been involved in various roles in the health underwriting and claims team ranging from health uw guidelines, technical aspects and processes pertaining to claims processing, claims litigation and grievance redressal. In addition, she supports the larger team with technical know how on medical aspects and its synergies in health insurance.

In the symposium, we have discussed differentiation between treatment and therapy specially for autistic, developmental disabilities, mentally retarded children.  The

Possibly, you would be aware that one of the resource persons stressed on long term therapy instead of treatment for Autistic, developmental disabilities, mentally retarded children.  Head, Analytics,  Insurance Information Bureau of India) presented paper titled ' Mental health insurance and analytics '.  Dr. Bang reported that there is no mental health insurance even though it is estimated ( in all probability a low estimate) that of all health disorders,  one sixth is related to mental illness of some form. She said that MHCI coverage could be state initiated, made mandatory by law or could be voluntarily offered by the insurance companies.  There is need for an organized nationwide survey to collect data which will help the state as well as the insurers to design appropriate policies for the benefit of people suffering from mental illness. 

Sanjay Datta, Chief– Underwriting & Claims

Mr. Sanjay Datta is Chief– Underwriting & Claims, ICICI Lombard General Insurance

Company Limited, the largest private sector general insurance company in India.

With over 24 years of experience in General Insurance, Mr. Datta was a part of the start

up team at ICICI Lombard in 2001 and has since then grown the business into a market

leadership position.

At ICICI Lombard, Mr. Datta is responsible for underwriting and claims division across

the organisation. He heads customer service for all product lines of the business and

spearheads underwriting discipline, operational excellence, product development

and pricing across Wholesale and Retail products. Mr. Datta drives company’s foray for

quality service delivery across all products.