Pb govt firms up plans to roll out national health insurance

The Punjab government has firmed up plans to roll out the Ayushman Bharat- National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPS) and has projected financial outlay of about Rs 500 crore on providing health cover to over 40 lakh families in the state.

A draft of the scheme has been prepared, a senior government functionary said here today, adding that a meeting was likely to take place on August 13 to give a final shape to the scheme.

Almost 15 lakh families in the state are going to be covered in the scheme as per the data of Social Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011, the official said, adding that the state government intended to provide health cover to over 40 lakh families in the state.

The state government is already providing health insurance cover of up to Rs 50,000 to below poverty line (BPL) families under the Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana.

Modalities are being worked out for the convergence of state health insurance with the National Health Protection Scheme, the official said.

"The total outlay on providing health cover to more than 40 lakh families is worked out at Rs 500 crore. The state is expected to receive Rs 90 crore from the Centre for providing health cover to 15 lakh families. The rest of the amount will be borne by the state," the official said.

Under the National Health Protection Scheme, the beneficiaries will be provided health cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

Notably, the Punjab government had raised objection to the scheme but later agreed to join the National Health Protection Scheme after the Centre addressed its concerns.