Mumbai: Providing relief to senior citizens, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday raised the Section 80D limit of the Income-tax Act relating to deduction in respect of health insurance premium to Rs50,000 from the earlier Rs30,000. As per the declaration, henceforth, all senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of deduction up to Rs. 50,000 per annum in respect of any health insurance premium and any general medical expenditure incurred.
The government provided some relief to senior citizen today by raising the limit of deduction for health insurance premium and/ or medical expenditure from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000, under section 80D. “All senior citizens will now be able to claim benefit of deduction up to Rs 50,000 per annum in respect of any health insurance premium and/or any general medical expenditure incurred,” said Jaitley.
Medical experts welcomed the move but criticized that the step of the government to stop the Rs 15,000 per annum for medical benefits to salaried employees. “We were pleased to hear in the Budget that the Government has allowed Senior Citizens to claims benefits of Rs 50,000 as part of medical insurance earlier this was Rs 30,000. However, the government’s discontinuing of Rs 15,000 per annum for medical benefits to salaried employees as per today’s Budget announcement, is unfortunate,” said Mustafa Daginawalla – CFO, Saifee Hospital.
The exponential increase in coverage of health insurance from the previous Rs 30,000 (under RSBY) is a significant boost to ensure health access and affordability to the unserved millions. The massive scale of the scheme may boost enterprises in rural areas. KK Aggarwal, former president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), said the increase in health coverage would motivate private players to address the rural and poor class.
