Govt in Plan To Launch a Landmark 'Health Protection Scheme'

By siliconindia | Wednesday, 17 February 2016, 11:02 Hrs

BENGALURU: In order to replace numerous existing autonomous government-supported health schemes and government's flagship health insurance plans such as Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is set to initiate a centrally sponsored 'Health Protection Scheme', as reported by The Economic Times.

According to the proposal, the scheme will provide minimum cover of 50, 000 to around 8 crore families. The total budget for the scheme over next five years is proposed of 23, 415 crore. "The proposal is to converge all centrally-sponsored health insurance schemes and in their place launch a new and superior centrally sponsored health protection scheme," said a senior health ministry official to ET. The proposal of having a single centrally sponsored scheme will assist government to streamline and address problems of overlapping beneficiaries and benefit packages under different schemes.

The ministry has also proposed setting up a National Health Agency for effective implementation of the scheme and better tie-up with larger healthcare systems like National Health Mission and other government plans. As reported by ET, “beneficiaries will be prepared not only based on income but also on deprivation and "identified occupational" categories as per the socio-economic caste census.”

The transition will expand the beneficiary base from people Below Poverty Line to cover families based on socio-economic background. “The proposed central scheme will also include families that are not covered under a core insurance scheme,” a detailed note on the proposal said.