Opt out of Modicare if you can afford it, urges Yogi Adityanath

Yogi Adityanath appealed to those who figured in the list but are financially sound and can afford to pay for healthcare from their own resources to voluntarily opt out of the scheme to avoid straining the state’s resources.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said about six crore people in the state would initially benefit from the Narendra Modi government’s Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme and his government would cover those left out, while appealing to those who could pay themselves to voluntarily opt out of it.

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath salutes during Independence Day celebrations in Lucknow. (AP Photo)

“In the first phase, six crore people are going to be covered under Ayushman Bharat, also called Modicare, with insurance of Rs five lakh per year. We are conducting a baseline survey. Even those who do not make it in this survey for now, will be covered by the UP government with its resources,” he said in his address after unfurling the Tricolour here on Independence Day.

However, Adityanath appealed to those who figured in the list but are financially sound and can afford to pay for healthcare from their own resources to voluntarily opt out of the scheme to avoid straining the state’s resources.

He also asked the people to help ensure that all those qualified for the list but were not in the list yet are enrolled in Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest government-funded healthcare scheme, to be launched on September 25.

The scheme, which will cover 50 crore Indians, will start on the birth anniversary of Deendayal Updadhyay, PM Modi announced in his Independence Day speech from the ramparts of Red Fort in New Delhi.