Following are the pre-budget recommendations for the forthcoming budget 2012-13 by Mr. Amol Naikawadi, Joint Managing Director, Indus Health Plus, India’s leading preventive healthcare organization and also as a member of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with an idea of tax benefits and generating the awareness of preventive health check-up.
The Government has been generous enough to make the following changes in the existing tax policy as well as understand the importance of preventive healthcare, which has resulted in:
i. 5% Service tax proposed on healthcare services was rolled back
ii. Healthcare services including preventive Health check-ups continue to be out of service tax net, further within the existing limit for deduction allowed for health insurance of Rs.15000, a deduction of up toRs.5000 is being allowed as per Budget 2012-13.
However, considering the present circumstances, a person will not be incentivized to save tax on preventive health check-up as the same falls under the ambit of health insurance. It is more like that one will invest Rs. 15,000 on health insurance instead of dividing the said amount into health insurance and preventive health check-up.
Therefore, considering the rising incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and deaths caused by NCDs, the Government must give greater incentive to people to go for preventive screening. We wish to have the following changes:
i. As mentioned above, presently health insurance and preventive health check-up are clubbed together under one category for tax benefit.
Mr. Amol Naikawadisaid “We wish to have a separate category for preventive health check-up so that people get a precise and clear incentive to go for a preventive health check-up.”
ii. The amount allocated for preventive health check-up for the whole family is Rs. 5000. Keeping in mind the practical aspects of healthcare the amount is insufficient to carry out a comprehensive screening programme that will not only include lab diagnosis but also high-end imaging to detect the possibility of NCDs at an early stage.
Mr. Amol Naikawadi said “We, therefore, want the tax deductible amount on preventive health check-up to be raised from Rs. 5000 to Rs. 15000.”
Mr. Amol Naikawadi concluded by saying “If our recommendations are accepted, it will result in more number of people choosing prevention. This will have a positive impact on the burden of non-communicable diseases in India. There will also be a huge impact on the economy as India is slated to lose 237 billion dollars during the decade 2005-2015 because of NCDs, if no timely preventive measures are taken.”
Indus Health Plus has been at the forefront, of promoting preventive healthcare across Maharashtra, Delhi, Goa, Belgaum, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh etc. Indus Health Plus facilitates, high-end preventive health check-ups, at affordable prices across India. Established in the year 2000, to propagate the inherent benefits of preventive diagnostics and create awareness on preventive health check-ups with a goal to reduce mortality and risks related with modern time diseases. It provides high-end preventive health check-ups, at affordable prices across India. Indus was the first, in the preventive healthcare category, to popularize the use of CT scanning technology, across a wider demography. Indus, through its delivery partners in 29 cities, across 55 centres, has reached out to about 75 lakh families, with more than 3.50 lakh people, availing the check-ups. The USP of opting for a package with Indus, is that, they offer a huge range of tests, with counselling and reports on the same day and at one third of the market price.
