Only 16% of all seniors looking for cataract operations in four LVPEI centers used any insurance, a new study found. | Photo Credit: Mohammed Yousuf
The Indian population ages and eye problems, such as cataracts, cause almost half of all vision in people over 60 years. However, less than one of the eight Indian seniors has any form of health insurance, so many leave them to pay for their own or completely skipping. Recently, scientists from LV Prasad Eye Institute checked how often the elderly people actually used insurance when they needed surgery cataracts, what types of insurance they used and whether the coverage changed the speed and success of treatment.
The team’s finding was published in the August issue Regional health Lancet – Southeast Asia.
Scientists have benefited from the electronic system of medical records connecting every level of the Institute in Andra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. They pulled out all operations of the first EYE cataracts carried out in patients aged 70–100 between August 2011 to December 2022. They fired orders that were charity and focused on people who had to choose the payment method.
For each of these 38,387 operations, they noticed gender, age, place of residence, socio -economic class that was reported, systemic diseases, payment regime (outside pocket or insurance), and if it was insured whether policy was a government scheme or a private plan.
They also recorded a gap between the daily operation and on the day it was done. They also discarded the uncorrect visual acuity three to six weeks after the operation as “good”, “normal” or “poor” according to the standards of the World Health Organization.
After the analysis of the data, scientists found that the insurance was rare and reduced with age. Only 16% of all patients used any insurance. The intake slipped from 17.5% in the 70-74 years to less than 10% after the age of 85, mainly because the privacy of insurance companies stop offering or becoming too expensive. Public programs were stuck at 3-4% in each age zone.
According to the national opening of the Ayushman Bharat program and other state schemes in 2018, the overall coverage of cataract operations increased to 20.6%, which is almost twice 10.7% in 2011–2017. According to the team, this fundamental shift was the only strongest predictor of who has insurance.
They also said that older men were insured 19% of the time compared to only 12% for women. Similarly, people from rural districts were less likely to be covered than Metros residents and that absorption was constantly increasing with the socio -economic class.
Non -insurance patients underwent surgery six days after the Council. Those who have private insurance waited 11 days, and those who tolerated in government programs tolerated the 18 -day average delay for paperwork and approval time. After checking all other factors, however, with any insurance, the patient made a 38% more likely to end up with a “good” unorror vision. Among the people over 80 years of age, those who do not have insurance were noticeably leaving the surgery more often until they saw badly.
In short, the surgery of cataracts was widely available, but the elder, who most often needed insurance and came out more often with worse vision.
“This study is a strong evidence that adequate insurance coverage improves the chances of timely health care and benefit from excellent results. I would claim that these findings are true not only for cataract surgery but for all forms of health intervention,” said Brijesh Takkar. “Our national health policy should ensure that many who are vulnerable to financial uncertainty. This has the potential to reduce the load on health care costs.”
Published – July 30, 2025 03:50
