'Health insurance scheme extended to 6 cr BPL families'
Press Trust of India / New Delhi Jul 08, 2009, 15:15 IST
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is being extended to all 6 crore BPL families in the country during the current financial year, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.
Minister of State for Labour and Employment Harish Rawat said a smartcard-based cashless health insurance cover of Rs 30,000 per year under the scheme has been already provided to over 49 lakh families in 18 states till June 30 this year.
In all, 25 states have initiated moves to implement it, he added.
In a written reply, the Minister said Kerala has topped the list by issuing over 9.77 lakh smartcards till the end of last month.
Under the scheme, the premium of the insurance cover is being shared by the Centre and the state governments in the ratio of 75:25. In case of North eastern states and Jammu and Kashmir, the ratio is 90:10, he added.
To a question on whether the government proposes to review the Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, the minister added a task force has been constituted to revisit the provisions of the Act. The task force is scheduled to meet on July 17 in this regard, he said.
Hi! Nice step taken by the government. I think this will help BPL families to get the best & cheaper health insurance & also to increase their living standard. Have been searching for tutorials on how to plan for insurance according to my budget and needs.. This tool came in handy too! Enjoy :) wwww.simpleinsurance.co.in
RSBY is a good effort although, the rates of surgerypackages (including consultations, investigations, operative charges, anaesthetist charges, drugs, medicines, equipments, stay, disposables , management of complication if occurs,and medicicines of 7 days post discharge all inclusive )fixed are impractical for all major surgeries, if they are really interested in improving the quality. by the present packages, it will be possible to cover only the minor surgical procedures with substandard quality. The poor will remain to suffer. As at this rates no one should expect quality. Also for major surgeries, poor patients will be shunted from one hospital to other and will ultimately land up in ill equipped and staffed government hospitals as the present state of affairs. It seems to be more of a political stunt.
Posted by: Raghu
August 17 , 2009, 11:40 IST
DD, you've got it totally wrong if you think it isn't a political stunt. Insurance cover for 60 million BPL families indeed! Anyone's uncle will be able to figure out the kind of kickbacks the insurance company or companies that is / are collecting the premium will be paying the govt. Also, how does a poor illiterate file a claim in case someone in his family falls ill? Take it from me, s/he will NEVER EVER get the money.
Posted by: dd
August 17 , 2009, 04:52 IST
please stop seeing everything as political stunt. This is a very good beginning and every Indian has reponsibility in building on this. It is easy tosay everything as political stunt.
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