After Aadhaar, the Centre has proposed another set of unique identification numbers to track the beneficiaries of the National Health Protection Scheme( NH PS ), its flagship health insurance programme that aims to provide Rs 1 lakh cover to people below the poverty line (BPL).
“Aadhaar is an option but since not everyone has an Aadhaar card, we have proposed allocating an exclusive number to each beneficiary registered under the scheme to easily locate them. We can’t deny a poor person insurance benefit if he doesn’t have an Aadhaar number,” said a senior health ministry official.
“To have an Aadhaar number is anyway not mandatory. And creating a unique number will also help ensure that the government is not paying premium for ghost beneficiaries (sic),” he said.
The programme will run on a robust IT national network, which will eliminate the risk of duplication. However, beneficiaries have to manage the number along with a host of cards such as ration card, voter ID card, driving license, etc.
As calculated by experts on the basis of the Socio Economic Caste Census-2011 data, the scheme — which is ready for a cabinet nod — will cover 8 crore BPL families.
{{/usCountry}}As calculated by experts on the basis of the Socio Economic Caste Census-2011 data, the scheme — which is ready for a cabinet nod — will cover 8 crore BPL families.
{{/usCountry}}“Our estimate is 40 crore people in all, and there will be no limit on the number of family members availing the benefits,” said JP Nadda, Union health minister.
The scheme is meant primarily to take care of in-patient expenditure through empanelled hospitals, including private hospitals.
“Close to 1,600 procedures have been selected that cover most of the treatment procedures conducted in any hospital,” said the ministry official.
The scheme is modelled on the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) that provided a cover of Rs 30,000 to people below the poverty line. The new scheme will provide a cover of Rs 1 lakh and a top up of Rs 30,000 for people above 60 years of age.
The scheme was announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the budget session 2016-2017, and is scheduled to be rolled out on April 1, 2017.
The Centre has allocated Rs 24,000 crore for the scheme, which has received the expenditure finance committee’s nod. According to ministry officials, the budget for the scheme can be increased as per requirement.