Insurance

Balram was feeling sick. His fever had not subsided despite taking some medicines from the corner Medical Store. He was weak and unable to do anything.

Since his wife lived far away in the village - it was Balram himself who checked himself into one of the best local private hospitals. He was one of the privileged few - his employer had given him a mediclaim coverage so that any hospitalisations were covered.

Then the shock.

The hospital did an HIV test on Balram. Without permission. Routinely.

They told him that he had AIDS.

They also informed him, that since he was HIV positive, his medical insurance was invalid. He would have to pay everything in cash.

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I wish the above were a fictional story. Or a case study in what could possibly happen. Sadly its a true experience that a Positive Friend of ours had. This was the way he found out that he had HIV. And added to the terrible confusing news about HIV - he also had to have friends scurry about to pay off the hospital bills.

Many, many people with HIV are not covered with medical insurance - because for most insurers in India having HIV makes a person ineligible to get medical coverage.

How this injustice continues I just don't understand. Here we are in 2010 - a quarter century after HIV was discovered to have reached India too - and yet people with HIV are facing something out of the 1980s - a time of total fear about what HIV was ...

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Yesterday a man came to meet us. He represents a large NGO who has teamed up with an insurance provider. The idea is a group insurance policy for people who have HIV. I was sceptical - and still have lots of questions. But it looks almost too good to be true. The premium is Rs. 1500 per person per year - and the NGO is willing to subsidize that by Rs. 750.

The benefits are that a person with HIV can be hospitalised up to Rs. 15,000/- per year. And in addition to that, when a person's immunity goes down to where their CD4 level is below 100 - they get a Rs. 15,000/- cash payment.

The only catch? Well, participants need to have an immunity level of over 300 to begin with - and we need to have about 200 people who are willing to sign up.

Lets see how this pans out...