20 states sign up for health plan
Twenty states have signed memorandums of understanding with the Centre to implement the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS).
West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Delhi are some of the states that have not signed up yet. West Bengal had shown interest but had not sent any formal request, it was revealed at the health ministers’ conclave on the NHPS.
Twelve states have decided to take the insurance route for payments to hospitals. These include Uttarakhand, Haryana, Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.
Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have decided to adopt the hybrid model where a part of the payment will be made through insurance and the rest through trusts.
The CEO of the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Yojana said Gujarat would disburse payments
through insurance for claims up to ~50,000 and through trust for claims over that amount.
Among the states that are adopting this scheme, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar do not have their own health insurance schemes and constitute 3040 per cent of the total beneficiaries. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have their own schemes but are going with the NHPS.
A pilot project in Haryana has revealed that Socio-economic Caste Census ( SECC) data was successful in tracing 80 per cent families in target villages.
Hospital providers were represented at the meeting by Apollo Hospitals Executive Chairman Preetha Reddy. This is despite the hospitals federation not being happy with rates prescribed by the government.
The NHPS will cost the exchequer ~120 billion. The Union government has said it will provide 60 per cent of the funds, and the state governments are expected to pool in the remaining 40 per cent. The Odisha government will not implement the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission in the state since it is about to launch a similar scheme on its own shortly. “There is no need to join the central government’s Ayushman Bharat programme after launching the state’s own health assurance scheme,” Health & Family Welfare Minister Pratap Jena said. He said that Odisha’s Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana will be implemented from August 15 this year.