Union health minister has declared that, the Mental Healthcare Act, 2017 has made it mandatory to provide "medical insurance for treatment of mental illness on the same basis as is available for treatment of physical illness". The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), had issued a circular directing the insurers to include mental illness, besides physical ailments under medical insurance cover. The Mental Healthcare Act defines, “ mental illness as a substantial disorder of thinking, mood, perception, orientation or memory that grossly impairs judgement, behaviour, capacity to recognise reality or ability to meet the ordinary demands of life.
It also includes mental conditions associated with the abuse of alcohol and drugs, but does not include mental retardation which is a condition of arrested or incomplete development of mind of a person. The Act further…
