Haryana to launch health insurance for BPL workers from Apr 1

Chandigarh, Jan 18 (UNI) To provide health insurance cover to below poverty line (BPL) workers in Haryana, the state government has decided to launch 'Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana' as a pilot project in four districts comprising Faridabad, Yamunanagar, Panipat and Bhiwani from April 1.

While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that the unorganised sector workers belonging to the BPL category and their family members (a family unit of five) would be beneficiaries under the scheme with an insurance cover of Rs 30,000 per family per annum on a family floater basis with a cashless attendance to all covered ailments.

He said that the scheme would be implemented by Haryana Employees State Insurance (ESI) Health Care, which is the nodal agency and would cover all districts in five years in a phased manner.

He informed that the Centre government would contribute 75 per cent of the estimated annual premium of Rs 750, subject to a maximum of Rs 565 per family per annum and the remaining 25 per cent would be borne out by the state government.

According to a recent survey, there are over 2.80 lakh BPL families in these four districts and the total expenditure involved under the scheme would be Rs 22.88 crore, out of which Rs 17.43 crore and Rs 5.45 crore would be borne by the Centre and the state government respectively.

The beneficiary would pay only Rs 30 per annum as registration or renewal fee and other expenses would be borne by the state overnment, he said adding that a Smart Card would be issued to each BPL family under the scheme.

He said that a national level workshop would be held on January 25 at New Delhi and another state-level at Gurgaon on January 30, for understanding the process of evolving key management system with a view to ensure appropriate official authentication of BPL families at the time of issuing the Smart Card.

The spokesman said that the tenders were invited from the eligible insurance companies (License and Registered with IRDA and dealing with health insurance).

UNI PS JN MMS1626