What is Non-Payable Items in health insurance?
Non-payable items are the consumables and non-medical charges — gloves, syringes, PPE kits, administrative and registration fees, personal-comfort items like slippers or toiletries — that your health insurer will not pay, so you settle them yourself even in a cashless claim. IRDAI prescribes a standardised master list of these excluded items to stop hospitals bundling them into the medical bill.
In plain English
The small stuff on your hospital bill — gloves, syringes, admin fees, slippers — that insurance never covers. You pay for these yourself, even with cashless.
A quick example
On a ₹2,00,000 hospital bill, say ₹18,000 is non-payable items (gloves, syringes, PPE, admission and registration charges). The insurer settles ₹1,82,000 and you pay the ₹18,000 out of your own pocket at discharge.
What IRDAI says
IRDAI prescribes a standardised list of non-medical / non-payable items (List I of the standard claims annexure) that insurers are allowed to exclude, so the same items are treated consistently across companies.
Where to find it in your policy
Not sure where this sits in your own policy? CoverSure reads the full document and pulls up the exact clause for you.
See where to find Consumables Clause in your policy →
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No. Even in a cashless claim the insurer deducts non-payable items from the settlement, and you pay that amount directly to the hospital at discharge.
IRDAI publishes a standardised list of non-medical / non-payable items that all insurers follow, and the key ones are summarised in your policy's Customer Information Sheet.
Some insurers offer a consumables or non-medical-expenses add-on rider that, for an extra premium, pays for these otherwise-excluded items.
Reviewed by
Atul SharmaAVP, Founder’s Office at CoverSure · 7+ years in insurance (ex-Tata, Ditto, Cholamandalam)
