Speech therapy often means months of treatment which becomes costly when it is not included under health insurance.
A seemingly calm atmosphere in the room, people are seated on chairs and are waiting patiently. The white walls and the silence is broken occasionally by the rustle of a newspaper or the laughter of a child. This is the reception of a speech therapy centre in Rajarajeshwari Nagar.
Anantha is one of the parents waiting for his child to finish his session. His three-year-old son has been receiving speech therapy at the centre for a week now. The cost of the treatment is borne by Anantha. With a gentle shake of his head, he said that his company policy does not include speech therapy under the insurance cover.
A single session at Enliven costs Rs. 700. Dr Jaba Prabu, Director of Enliven said that it used to be Rs. 650 but they had to increase it to maintain the centre. Indu Kuruba P, Head of Speech Language Pathologist & Paediatric Services at Enliven said that for the best results, a child needs to attend at least three to four sessions a week. “Only then, the child can show improvement in around three months,” she added.
For a child to completely overcome any difficulties or developmental issues, it can take anywhere from eight months to three years. The cost of the treatment can be around Rs. 44, 800 to Rs. 3, 27,600. A parent from an economically weaker background can find it difficult to afford the therapy if it is not covered under insurance.
Most insurances do not cover speech therapy because it is an Out Patient Department (OPD) treatment. PolicyBazaar’s article on OPD cover explains, “Most health insurance plans do not offer an OPD cover and hence, it is usually available as an add-on cover.”
People without any insurance have to find other means to fund the treatment. For example, Purabi Deka, a single mother from Assam had to reach out to Vaani, Deaf Children’s Foundation to continue speech therapy treatment for her son, Dipankar. Dipankar has Bilateral Severe Hearing Loss and Purabi found it hard to fund his treatment after her husband’s death. She approached Vaani which ensured that Dipankar continued his speech therapy.
Anantha’s son and Dipankar are part of the five million people that are estimated to have communication disabilities This number was given by Vikas Sheel, Additional Secretary and Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) at the 53 rd Annual Conference of Indian Speech-Language and Hearing Association (ISHACON).
Dr Jaba said that he had to increase the number of centres and his staff strength to accommodate the increasing number of children that are coming to them for treatment.
He also said that speech therapy would be covered under health insurance if there is a hospitalisation. At the most, insurance covers speech therapy costs only for consultations. Sometimes, parents in the corporate industry do receive some kind of reimbursement or tax benefits, he added.
On his part, he reduces the treatment cost for someone coming from an economically weaker background who can produce proof like a BPL card. The cost is reduced by up to 75 percent. These cases constitute around 10 to 12 percent of the total patients. Further, Dr Jaba said, “We believe that in the future it (insurance cover for OPD treatment) has to open up.” In the UK, the client can directly visit the therapist and the insurance companies approach the firms for the diagnosis. “This should happen in India. OPD-based insurance claims should increase as many do not offer OPD coverage. We feel that out of 10 insurance companies, only one will be offering OPD based.”
