trade partner with imports and exports adding up to 88 billion in 201819 with exports of 524 billion india had a trade surplus of 168 billioncommon rates for hosps due to medical inflation insurersthe four psu general insurers new india assurance national insurance united india and oriental insurance already have a similar common rack rate list for medical procedures under gipsa general insurance public sector association psus say the higher volumes of business they bring in more than compensate for the slightly lower rates seta majority of hospitals have now agreed to our rack rate because they know we have a wide customer base and it will bring them more footfalls of course some big hospitals initially stayed away but over the years they have also come into the fold said atul sahai ceo new india assurance co and there are some who have not agreed to the rates and stayed independent if our customers decide to go there we cant stop them we do reimburse he addedirdai has decided to extend the psu example for private insurers and tpas some of the smaller insurers and tpas may not have the same bargaining capacity or clout as some of the bigger names so irdai felt that it does not make sense for one hospital for one treatment to charge 78 different rates depending on the insurertpa so it has asked us to work on a common rate applicable to all said m n sharma secretarygeneral gi councilinsurers expect some level of resistance from private hospitals in karnataka this april the private hospitals and nursing homes association phana refused to honour cashless claims inconveniencing thousands of policyholders after gipsa decided to push its tariff over 400 hospitals in phana network boycotted cashless treatment for nearly a month a similar situation was seen in pune where a network of 125 hospitals threatened to discontinue cashless claimsinsurers state that the reason they are forced to look at a common rack rate for hospitals is because of medical inflation yearonyear hospitals increase charges by 1015 say insurers insurers call this soft fraud by private hospitals as bills for standard procedures are artificially inflated ultimately it is patients who suffer as they end up paying from their pockets despite having insurance said an official from a psu