GST is simpler now, but living with a disability in India remains costly

On September 3, 2025, India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stood before the press and announced what she called a “next-generation” overhaul of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime.

The reform was billed as a landmark moment: four tax slabs collapsed into two, compliance simplified, daily-use items made more affordable. Headlines across media platforms hailed it as a win for the “common man.”

But for millions of disabled people in India, the celebration felt oddly distant.

Because once again, disability didn’t feature in the fine print.

What the GST council got right

There’s no denying some of the changes are meaningful.

GST on individual life and health insurance premiums - previously taxed at 18% - has now been removed entirely.

33 life-saving drugs are now fully GST exempt.

Medical kits, diagnostic reagents, and corrective spectacles have seen tax cuts that make them more accessible for families navigating rising healthcare costs.

Still taxing independence: the silence on assistive devices

One of the most glaring omissions in the new GST structure is assistive technology, the very tools that enable disabled people to live, move, work, and communicate with dignity.

Wheelchairs, prosthetics, hearing aids, Braille printers, screen readers - all of these remain taxed between 5% and 18%. No new exemptions. No tax rationalisation. Not even a mention.

This isn’t just about money. It’s about what our systems choose to prioritise. When entertainment electronics get tax cuts but essential mobility devices don’t, it reveals how disability is still seen as a side issue, not a mainstream concern.

As disability rights advocates have long argued: access isn’t a luxury. It’s a right.

When insurance isn’t inclusion

Another headline win from the GST 2.0 reform was the removal of tax on health and life insurance policies. It’s a major shift in making financial protection more affordable, but only for those who can actually access it.

For many disabled people, insurance remains inaccessible or discriminatory. Pre-existing conditions are often flagged. Chronic illnesses lead to exclusions. Neurodivergent and mentally disabled individuals routinely face rejection or unreasonably high premiums.

So while GST-free insurance might sound like relief, for many disabled households, it’s relief they can’t even access.

Disability is expensive. Policy rarely acknowledges that

Mainstream conversations about the cost of living rarely account for the added costs of disability, from hospitalisation and rehab to caregiving, therapy, and the everyday cost of inclusion.

And because most of these are either under-covered or excluded from public and private insurance, families are often left to pay out-of-pocket. These hidden costs - financial, emotional, social - add up.

As a result, disability is often seen as a “burden” not because of the person, but because of how unsupported the system makes their existence.

Reform is not just about slabs. It's about who we include

The Finance Ministry has called this the most “people-centric” GST reform yet.

But if your definition of “people” doesn’t include disabled communities, chronically ill individuals, caregivers, or those who rely on assistive devices, then your reform is only half done.

You can’t talk about “ease of living” and still make independence more expensive.

You can’t celebrate inclusion while taxing accessibility.

What real disability-inclusive tax reform could look like

If India is serious about “inclusive growth”, here’s what a truly progressive GST reform would do:

Exempt assistive devices from GST, just like life-saving drugs.

Recognize accessibility tech as essential, not optional.

Reimagine insurance access for disabled and chronically ill individuals.

Center disability in all economic and fiscal policies, not just social welfare.

Until we’re named, we’re not protected

At Much Much Spectrum, we believe that policy must be accountable not just to markets and margins, but to lived realities.

GST 2.0 may have simplified slabs, but it did not simplify life for millions navigating disability. And that should concern all of us.

Because until disability is explicitly centered in policy conversations - not as an afterthought, but as a starting point - reforms will remain cosmetic.

And the cost of being disabled in India will remain far higher than any GST slab can calculate.