Private Medical Insurance for Expats Living in India

During recent times, India has skilfully promoted itself as a medical tourism centre, attracting patients from Africa, Europe and the Middle East, even though India’s health services, for the majority of the population, are poor. Only about a quarter of India’s population can afford Western produced medicines with the remainder being dependant on traditional Indian remedies or alternative treatments such as acupuncture and Ayurvedic medicine (which has fewer adverse reactions).  As a result, around 81% of health care services across India is paid from its peoples own private funds.  One problem with India’s booming economy is that it has attracted millions into the cities and away from the country’s rural network of hospitals, putting a strain on the system.

Infants at risk

India has been criticised for not doing much to tackle the problem of infant deaths. Unicef, the children’s charity, has pointed out that a quarter of all deaths, of children aged under one year, across the world from 2008, occurred in India.

Indian health care market has recently been growing at a compound annual rate of 16%. Accountants put the total value of the health sector at $34 billion, which is roughly 4.7 % of GDP in 2014 (Data.worldbank.org, 2017). The estimate for the current value of India’s health care sector is thought to be $40 billion.

Population outstripping China

With the health care sector massively expanding, it is thought that by 2050, India’s population is projected to hit 1.6 billion, overtaking China as the world’s most populous nation. This growth projection is not just based on new births, as India’s average life expectancy is gradually moving towards Western levels and the government drive to reduce hepatitis and polio within the young is likely to give a further boost to its population.

Along with this population spurt, India’s economy is expected to grow by at least 5% a year, over the next 40 years and some of the factors behind this forecast include; urbanisation, an expanding middle class and rapid increases in the number of well educated women entering the labour market. Unfortunately, India has many difficulties to overcome if it is to achieve this, as currently, a quarter of the population is living below the national poverty line.

Government  Health Insurance Scheme

The rural health mission aims to improve primary care in the countryside to help reduce the possibility of specialist services, in the cities, being overwhelmed. The government runs its own health insurance scheme, which has the greatest section of the market but that has only attracted 11% of the population. Policyholders do not benefit from direct settlement, as in Western insurance health schemes, but instead pay from their own pocket and then apply for reimbursement, which can take months.

Health tourism in India

Where medical tourists look for the cheapest deals for their medical requirements, there are few countries that beat India. Reports, from various sources, point to huge price differences in the cost of services:

• Heart surgery can be obtained for around $50,000 in America, $14,200 in Thailand and $4,000 in India
• Liver transplant can be around £50,000 in America, $75,000 in Thailand and $45,000 in India
• Bone marrow transplants are typically $62,500 in both America and Thailand, but in India, the cost will be nearer $31,000.

India has developed a lively trade in this, even in spite of the known hazards, such as variable infectious-disease rates, different medical-accreditation standards for staff and exposure to organisms against which the patient has no built-in resistance. Dysentery and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya fever are widespread and could derail recovery if contracted.

The best hospitals In India are based in Mumbai and Bangalore where each has a 400-bed unit, specialising in cardiology, orthopaedics, neurosciences and woman/child care.

Mumbai maintains very high diagnostic facilities for most illnesses, including orthopaedics and offers a total hip replacement for around $6,500 with knee replacement at around the similar price.

Health insurance requirements

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) advises Expats, going to India, to buy holiday or international medical cover and states: “You should take out comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.” They also state that “Local medical facilities are not comparable to those in the UK, especially in more remote areas. In major cities, private medical care is available, but can be expensive.”

Health Hazards in India

FCO advises: “Take care with your water and food hygiene, drink only boiled or bottled water and avoid ice in drinks and if you suffer from diarrhoea, seek immediate medical attention.”

Other recent health outbreaks like bird-flu have occurred in the north-eastern states of West Bengal and Assam, where it would be wise to avoid visiting live animal markets, poultry farms and other places where there is contact with domestic, caged or wild birds.

Prevalence of HIV and Aids is greater in India than in the UK with 0.3% of the adult population infected as compared to 0.2% in Britain.