March 26: A parliamentary panel has proposed to bring the government’s health insurance scheme under the jurisdiction of the Insurance Board Nepal (IBN). The government has been running the health insurance scheme since the last few years by forming a separate Health Insurance Board. Deliberating on the new Insurance Bill presented in the parliament, lawmakers have proposed bringing the health insurance scheme under IBN.

During a clause-wise discussion on the bill on March 24-25, the Finance Committee of parliament proposed to include the government’s health insurance scheme under the jurisdiction of the Insurance Board. Krishna Prasad Dahal, chairman of the committee, said the parliamentary panel has suggested the government to include the health insurance scheme under the proposed Insurance Authority (currently the IBN).

Clause-wise discussion on the Insurance Bill which has been presented in the parliament to amend and integrate insurance-related laws was also held earlier. This bill was registered in the parliament in 2019.

The bill proposes transforming the current Insurance Board into Insurance Authority. If the bill is approved, the government’s health insurance program will be regulated by the same Insurance Authority.

“To regulate health insurance program through the proposed Insurance Authority, the Health Insurance Act needs to be scrapped. But the bill has not stated anything about this,” says Dahal, adding, “There are technical problems to immediately bring the health insurance scheme under the proposed Insurance Authority. So, changes have been proposed.”

The government has formed Health Insurance Board but it has not been able to work effectively due to lack of skilled human resources. Taking this into consideration, the current changes to the program has been proposed. It has been said that millions of rupees in insurance premium raised under the health insurance plan create difficulties to bring the insurance plan under the control of the proposed Insurance Authority. Problems could arise to manage the collected premium and settle insurance claims, Dahal said.

The bill also proposes to establish a special fund targeting the marginalized people. Insurance companies will be required to allocate one percent of their income to the fund. The fund will be utilized to get the poor people insured.  A separate work procedure will be issued soon so that the companies can utilize the fund.

The bill has also proposed to reduce regulation fee being collected from insurance companies. The Insurance Board collect one percent of their income as regulation fee which will be reduced to 0.5 percent.

“If the Authority focuses on stern regulation and insurance companies bring numerous insurance policies, the regulation fee might be reduced,” says Revenue Secretary Ram Sharan Pudasaini.

The license period of Insurance company is also being extended from one year to three years under the proposed bill. The bill has also proposed to reduce penalty fee to around Rs 100,000 to Rs 300,000 from Rs 100,000 to Rs 500,000.