India’s worsening air pollution crisis has long been a public health emergency, but the proposal by insurers to hike health premiums in New Delhi due to pollution-related illnesses threatens to turn it into an economic crisis as well. If approved, this move will penalise those already suffering from toxic air while setting a dangerous precedent for the future of health insurance in the country. Insurers argue that a surge in pollution-related claims, particularly for respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, necessitates a 10 per cent-15 per cent increase in premiums.

Their reasoning follows standard risk assessment logic ~ higher hospitalisation rates should lead to higher insurance costs. While sound, this rationale ignores a fundamental ethical issue: air pollution is not a personal choice but a systemic failure. Unlike habits such as smoking or an unhealthy lifestyle, which can influence insurance rates, pollution is an unavoidable external factor. Citizens have no control over the air they........

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