Mumbai, NCR lead health insurance claims from diabetics

With diabetes affecting over 10 crore of the Indian population, metropolises like Mumbai and Delhi national capital region lead in the maximum number of diabetes-related health insurance claims in the country according to a survey.
7.8 per cent of the 131 crore people in the country are diabetic with the disease having claimed over two lakh lives till now, according to World Health Organisation (WHO), which focussed on diabetes for this this years's World Health Day on April 7.
"Diabetes rarely makes headlines, and yet it will be the world's seventh largest killer by 2030 unless intense and focused efforts are made by governments, communities and individuals," says Poonam Khetrapal Singh, regional director of WHO South-East Asia.

Diabetes, a chronic disease that occurs either when the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or when the body cannot effectively use the insulin it produces, has often been considered to be a lifestyle disorder, with the affluent urban population being most prone to it.
While a WHO report noted rise in diabetes patients in the country, a data aggregation of some of the leading private health insurance companies suggested a rise in diabetes related health claims. The data also raised concern over such claimants belonging to the age group below 25 years.
Diabetes becomes serious when patients become hyperglycemic and have to undergo costly surgeries such as diabetic retinopathy, diabetic nephropathy, diabetic neuropathy and diabetic foot treatement.

A report by ICICI Lombard shows that while most of the diabetes-related health insurance claims were previously made by people over the age of 60 years, over the last few years youths under the age of 25 have also become claimants to such health covers.
The firm received 7,915 such claims between 2011-2015 across all age groups.
A year by year data of the claims handled by the insurance firm says 4,140 senior citizens since 2011 have claimed insurance cover for diabetes while the same figure among youth till the age of 25 remained at 235. The same numbers for people in the age group of 26-45 and 46-60 stood at 1,564 and 3,433, respectively, it said.