Gehlot launches new health insurance plan
Insurance cover raised to ₹5 lakh; scheme combines Centre’s Ayushman Bharat, state’s Bhamashah
JAIPUR: Chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday launched the Ayushman Bharat – Mahatma Gandhi Rajasthan Swasthya Bima Yojna (AB-MGRSBY) that will benefit over 10 million families and each beneficiary will be given an insurance cover of ₹5 lakh.
The new scheme combines the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna with the Rajasthan government’s existing health scheme - Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana (BSBY). The previous BJP government had launched the BSBY in December 2015.
“Had our government implemented the Centre’s scheme, only 6 million families covered in the Social Economic Survey 2011 would have been eligible for benefits. There are 9.8 million families eligible under the National Food Security Scheme and the Rajasthan government has added them with the health insurance scheme along with those eligible under the central scheme,” said Gehlot.
The CM added that the central government has fixed the limit of ₹1052 for each beneficiary and will pay the same amount. The premium in the state government’s insurance scheme is coming to ₹1600 per beneficiary and the state government will pay the gap in premium.
“Under this scheme, the state government will bear about 80% of the annual premium of ₹1750 crore, which is around ₹1400 crore,” he said.
Gehlot demanded that the central government implement the Rajasthan model of health insurance in the entire country.
An anti-fraud unit has been created to prevent irregularities in the new insurance scheme. “We have done a study. The scheme of the Centre which is running today was earlier running in Andhra Pradesh. There were many irregularities in it, so we did not implement it. In the Bhamashah scheme which was been run by previous government, many irregularities were also found. To check the irregularities, an anti-fraud unit has been created,” Gehlot said.
“We started free medicine and test scheme, which has set an example for the country. With same commitment, we started Nirogi Rajasthan campaign in December 2019. In last 10 months, the state’s coronavirus management has been appreciated. Rajasthan is also model state a model state in vaccination,” he said.
Under the new health insurance scheme, the annual free treatment limit has been extended to ₹5 lakh from ₹3.30 lakh. Free treatment of ₹50,000 will be available for general diseases and ₹4.50 lakh for serious diseases.
Other than government hospitals, the affiliated private hospitals and those of the government of India will provide free treatment.
“The expenses incurred 5 days prior to admission in a hospital and 15 days after the discharge will also be covered in the package,” Gehlot said.