Hospital room rent caps, lower premium plans: Full list of Parliamentary Standing Committee recommendations

Hospitalisation can often leave families dealing with high medical bills, even when they have health insurance. Room charges, diagnostics, medicines, treatment costs and expenses outside hospitalisation can add significantly to the financial burden.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health & Family Welfare has made a wide range of recommendations aimed at improving the affordability and accessibility of healthcare facilities in the public and private sector.

The Committee, headed by Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav, M.P., Rajya Sabha, presented its 176th Report on “Affordability and Accessibility of Healthcare Facilities in Public and Private Sector” to Rajya Sabha and laid it on the Table of Lok Sabha on August 7, 2026. The Committee made a total of 368 recommendations.

According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), key recommendations include immediate formulation of a mechanism to standardize and cap the costs of essential treatments, diagnostics, and routine procedures across all private hospitals; establishment of Jan Aushadhi Kendras within the premises of all District Hospitals, CHCs, and large private hospitals empanelled under government schemes; introduction of a well-designed, voluntary and contributory insurance model through a collaborative effort between the Government and the private sector; and a comprehensive review of the GST framework applicable to the healthcare sector.

The Committee further recommended the establishment of an additional, independently administered AIIMS facility or a fully equipped satellite center in the northern outskirts of Delhi to strategically decentralise the tertiary healthcare burden and ensure equitable, timely medical access for the broader region.

Hospital room charges should be capped

The Committee is of the considered opinion that some private hospitals levy or charge large amounts for hospital stays, especially in metropolitan cities. Having analysed the break-up of the hospital billing structure, the Committee believes that rationalising of room charges needs to be done on an emergent basis.

The Committee recommends that the room charges for a hospital should not exceed the average room tariffs prevailing in three-star hotels in the peripheral area or vicinity of the hospital. The Committee recommends making this benchmark mandatory for all private hospitals in large metropolitan cities.

The resident doctor cost, nursing cost, disposable costs of consumables, meal charges and laundry charges can be added to the basic room tariff so that the entire cost is rationalised.

Standardise and cap treatment and diagnostic costs

The Committee has recommended immediate formulation of a mechanism to standardise and cap the costs of essential treatments, diagnostics and routine procedures across all private hospitals.

It has also recommended a statutory framework to implement standardized treatment guidelines and cap arbitrary price variations.

End room-rent-linked pricing

The Committee has recommended the elimination of room rent-linked inflation models for standard procedures across all private hospitals to protect citizens from catastrophic out-of-pocket expenses.

The Committee noted that the average out-of-pocket expenditure per hospitalisation episode stands at ₹34,064 and that medical inflation is 10-13% annually.

Lower-cost insurance plan for the “missing middle”

The Committee has identified the “missing middle”, constituting over 40 crore individuals or 30% of the population, as a major gap in health insurance coverage.

Specifically, the Committee recommends developing a modified, highly standardized product building upon the Aarogya Sanjeevani plan, structurally priced between Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 6,000 per family annually.

To ensure widespread uptake, this product must strictly minimize waiting periods for disease coverage and explicitly include out-patient (OPD) benefits.

Health insurance should cover more than hospitalisation

The Committee has expressed concerns regarding rising insurance premiums, exclusions and waiting periods, co-payments, claim rejections and the limited coverage of outpatient care, diagnostics and chronic disease management.

It has recommended expansion of Health Benefit Packages under public insurance schemes to formally encompass comprehensive OPD services, psychiatric disorders, chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) management and rehabilitation.

The Committee has also recommended broadening the scope of existing public health insurance frameworks to comprehensively encompass outpatient consultations, diagnostic evaluations, medicine costs and post-hospitalisation care.

Faster and more transparent insurance claims

The Committee has recommended a transparent, well-regulated health insurance sector where claim settlements data is integrated onto a common portal with open access.

It has also recommended the mandatory integration of insurers, TPAs and healthcare providers into the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX) to guarantee real-time, transparent claims processing.

The Committee has raised concerns over dual pricing, whereby private hospitals arbitrarily inflate charges for insured patients.

It has recommended that IRDAI formulate and enforce a robust, standardised policy framework that explicitly prohibits the practice of dual pricing, ensuring equitable and transparent billing practices for all patients regardless of their insurance status.

The Committee has recommended that all tertiary care hospitals provide a comprehensive, legally binding upfront cost estimate to the patient prior to the initiation of any complex or prolonged medical intervention.

It has further recommended that hospitals deploy dedicated ‘Financial Navigators’ to guide patients and their families through these estimates, available philanthropic support and health assurance limits, enabling fully informed financial planning.

The Committee has recommended the formulation and regulatory enforcement of “Continuum of Care” packages.

These packages should comprehensively bundle preventive screening, diagnostic, curative and palliative services under a single, capped financial umbrella, ensuring that economically disadvantaged patients are not forced to abandon care during the critical palliative or supportive phases.

The Committee has recommended establishment of Jan Aushadhi Kendras within the premises of all District Hospitals, CHCs and large private hospitals empanelled under government schemes.

It has also recommended establishment of AMRIT and Jan Aushadhi pharmacies within AB-PMJAY empanelled hospitals, including private hospitals, along with greater transparency in procurement and mark-ups on consumables and medical devices.

The Committee has recommended that private empanelled hospitals adopt centralized, transparent tender-based procurement systems to strictly cap internal mark-ups levied on life-saving consumables and medical devices at a mutually agreed-upon ceiling, such as the 20% margin observed in proactive institutions.

The Committee has recommended measures to make medical devices and drugs more affordable, including reducing the gap between the landing price and MRP of medical devices and drugs.

It has recommended that the gap should not be more than 20%, along with rationalisation of the cost of peripheral stents and drug-eluting balloons.

The Committee has recommended interoperable Electronic Medical Records that give patients secure, remote access to their own clinical data.

It has also recommended real-time digital billing and alerts on bills and available fund balances.

The Committee has noted that the traditional health insurance model primarily covers secondary and tertiary hospitalisation, while chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases require continuous, lifelong medical management.

It has therefore recommended greater financial protection for outpatient care and chronic disease management, including specialized financial support frameworks and enhanced insurance sub-limits for chronic care management and recurring pharmaceutical costs.

The Committee has recommended phased, nationwide integration of all private diagnostic centres and hospitals into the National Health Claims Exchange (NHCX) and Unified Health Interface (UHI) gateways.

It has said this would further standardize digital health claims, accelerate cashless settlements and reduce information asymmetry for patients booking consultations or locating generic medicines.

The recommendations include a three-star hotel-linked benchmark for hospital room charges, lower-cost insurance products for the “missing middle”, wider OPD coverage, an end to room-rent-linked pricing, upfront treatment cost estimates and greater use of digital platforms for insurance claims.

These are recommendations made by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in its report and are not, by themselves, new rules that have automatically come into force.