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pradhan mantri jan aarogya yojana
Delhi's plan to launch own insurance scheme delayed
Of the three states that are yet to sign up for Ayushman Bharat, Telangana and Odisha have their own insurance schemes which, they claim, is better than Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) — the national health protection scheme.Durgesh Nandan Jha | TNN | March 06, 2019, 08:23 IST
NEW DELHI: Of the three states that are yet to sign up for Ayushman Bharat, Telangana and Odisha have their own insurance schemes which, they claim, is better than Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY) — the national health protection scheme.
Delhi, too, wanted to implement a universal health insurance plan for the state by last December. But the status report of the outcome budget presented by the Delhi government recently shows that the project is yet to take off. "The modality of the insurance scheme has not been finalised yet," it noted.
The government had, in its budget for 2018-19, had proposed an outlay of Rs 100 crore for the state health insurance scheme to cover treatment of citizens in empanelled private hospitals and government hospitals. A source said a committee constituted to prepare detailed guidelines recommended adopting the Ayushman Bharat scheme but that didn't happen over naming of the scheme.
Also, some officials in the health department argued, the poor and vulnerable who are the intended beneficiaries of PMJAY were already getting free treatment in Delhi's state-run hospitals as well as some of the top private hospitals under various schemes.
"Our government has ensured 100% availability of free medicines and consumables at state-run hospitals," said an official. In case diagnostic services such as MRI and CT scan aren't available readily in government hospitals, officials have been authorised to refer the patient to empanelled private facilities where the tests can be done for free and the government will bear the cost, he added.
The official said 1,116 free surgeries were conducted in empanelled private hospitals on patients referred from 24 Delhi government hospitals because the waiting period in the government hospitals was too long under the free surgery scheme.
"Also, more than 40 big private hospitals that got land on concessional rates have to provide free treatment to 25% out-patient department and 10% in-patient department patients belonging to economically weaker sections," he pointed out.
Telangana's Aarogyasri universal health scheme covers around 80 lakh families in the state and the insurance coverage to each family varies between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 13 lakh per annum. In some specialised therapies, there is no limit. Odisha's Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, a health-for-all scheme, provides health assurance coverage to around 70 lakh families.
Tags : Policy, Telangana, pradhan mantri jan aarogya yojana, odisha, ayushman bharat, New Delhi, Delhi, CT scan
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