If the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) has its way, then around 23.9 lakh people infected with HIV/AIDS in India can hope to be under the ambit of health insurance soon.

Following rap by the Delhi High Court last year for denying the insurance benefits to the HIV inflicted people, the IRDA has recently come out with an exposure draft proposing to make it mandatory for insurers to provide cover to those suffering from the deadly disease.

“The authority has received representations from various stakeholders, including public bodies and the Government, to provide insurance cover to people living with HIV and to those who are vulnerable to it in health insurance policies,” IRDA Chairman J Hari Narayan said in the draft finalised on February 2.

Presently, except Star Health and Allied Insurance, none of the insurance firms have any health policy for these targeted groups in the country. However, things may soon change. As per the two-page draft norms posted on the website of the National Aids Control Organisation (NACO) of the Health Ministry, all life and non-life insurance firms “will have to put an underwriting policy on health insurance coverage for persons suffering from HIV…The policy would also cover persons who are not yet showing AIDS symptoms but are in stage 1 or 2 of HIV infections…”

Giving options, the regulator says, the risk could be covered through a critical illness policy, through a rider policy that would provide a lump-sum in case the insured contracts the disease, by giving him a lifetime pension if he contracts the diseases during the tenure of the policy, by including AIDS death as an insured event in a health policy, or could even cover HIV/AIDS under group schemes.

If the PLHA meets the criteria, the firms would not deny him or her a health cover, the IRDA has made it clear to the companies.

The draft further says that besides specifically address people who are yet to  show AIDS symptoms but are in Stage I and II of HIV infection, those who are in compliance with treatment protocols of the medication, have CD4 count in excess of 350, have CD4 percentage greater than 23 per cent, to be P24 antigenemia negative will also be covered. After getting comments for the draft exposure by March 2, the insurance regulator has decided to make the guidelines effective from October 1.