'Insensitive thinking': Rahul Gandhi presses for removal of 18% GST on Health & Life Insurance

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday demanded the removal of 18% of Goods and Services Tax (GST) on life and health insurance premiums. In a tweet, Gandhi said the Modi government collected Rs 24,000 crores from millions of Indians who pay health insurance premium every year by saving every penny.

"Looking for a 'tax opportunity' before every disaster is proof of the insensitive thinking of the BJP government," he said, adding that the INDIA alliance opposes this "opportunistic thinking". "Health and life insurance must be made GST free."

Earlier today, the INDIA bloc parties staged a protest in Parliament premises to press for the rollback of 18% GST on life and health insurance premiums. MPs from various parties such as TMC, Congress, AAP, and NCP (SC), among others, participated in the protest on the steps leading to the Makar Dwar of Parliament. 

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said the INDIA parties demanded immediate removal of 18% GST on health and life insurance premiums as "this extortion is a severe blow to our people, especially the middle class". He said the middle class is already struggling under the burden of the Modi government's tax collection policies.

"India's medical inflation rate is the highest in Asia in 2024 - at 14%! On top of that, this 'Gabbar Singh Tax' on life insurance and health insurance is inhuman, and another condemnable example of BJP's policy of plundering from 'opportunity in disaster'," Kharge said. 

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor said India is already the country whose citizens pay the highest out-of-pocket expenses for health crises in the world. He said senior citizens who have taken health insurance are now paying the highest GST rates in the world. "How does the government intend to attain the goal of 'insurance for all by 2047', when it is instead ensuring the unaffordability of insurance to most?" Tharoor said on X. 

Earlier, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari also wrote to Union Finance Minister Sitharaman and urged her to consider withdrawing the GST which he said amounted to taxing uncertainties of life and restricting the industry's growth. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has written to Sitharaman, seeking the removal of the GST.