Delhi High Court questions HIV/AIDS exclusions from Health Insurance

In response to a petition filed, the Delhi High Court has questioned IRDA and the Health Ministry as to why Health Insurance policies have an exclusion for HIV/ AIDS. Most insurance contracts have a clause in the health insurance policy documents which states that the policy does not cover treatment for HIV/AIDS even if the policyholder might have contracted it at a far later stage than when he (s) got admitted into the policy. In the view of the court, this tantamounts to a discrimination in a country which has the third largest number (24 lakhs) of HIV infected people in the world. If the insurance companies need to cover HIV/AIDS as a part of the standard list of ailments that are covered, one might see a little increase in health insurance premiums. One however tends to agree that there is no basis to discriminate against HIV/AIDS patients and not provide them an insurance cover.