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| J&K to introduce health insurance cover for BPL families | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
JAMMU, Dec 14: Health Ministry of Jammu and Kashmir has sought detailed data of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families from Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution (CAPD) Department for covering them under centrally Sponsored Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY).
According to sources, State Government has proposed to extend Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), a cashless health insurance cover of Union Government, to all Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the State. Till now, the scheme was meant only for the poor in the unorganised sector.
Sources said that Health Department has proposed to extend the scheme to all the BPL ration cardholders. They added that a plan has been prepared to rope in private insurance firms for enhancing the health coverage from Rs. 30,000. Scheme envisages cashless health insurance cover up to Rs. 30,000 a year on hospitalisation to a BPL family (a unit of five). The household has to pay Rs. 30 a year.
The facility provides access to a network of private and public hospitals. While the Union Government bears 90 per cent of the cost, the State Government has to bear the balance. A detailed note on the modalities with regard to involvement of private insurance firms has been prepared.
At present, three insurance firms, IFFCO Tokio General Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance and United India Insurance Company, have been providing health coverage to Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana cardholders in the country. Government is planning to cover all BPL families.
For people living Below Poverty Line, an illness not only represents a permanent threat to their income earning capacity, in many cases it could result in family falling into a debt trap. When need to get treatment arises for poor families, they often ignore it because of lack of resources, fearing wage loss, or wait till last moment when it's too late.
Even if they do decide to get the desired health care it consumes their savings, forces them to sell their assets and property or cut other important spending like children's education. Alternatively they have to take on huge debts. Ignoring the treatment may lead to unnecessary suffering and death while selling property or taking debts may end a family's hope of ever escaping poverty.
These tragic outcomes can be avoided through a health insurance which shares the risk of a major health shock across many households by pooling them together. A well designed and implemented health insurance may both increase access to healthcare and may even improve its quality over time.
RSBY has been launched by Union Ministry of Labour and Employment to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families. The objective of RSBY is to provide protection to BPL households from financial liabilities arising out of health shocks that involve hospitalization. Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization cover up to Rs. 30,000 for most of diseases that require hospitalization.
Government has even fixed the package rates for the hospitals for a large number of interventions. Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents. |
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