With the Union government acknowledging concerns raised by the Punjab government on Aayushman Bharat Yojana, the insurance scheme also being called ‘Modicare’ after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, hurdles have been cleared to launch the scheme in Congress-ruled Punjab too.
The state agreed to launch the scheme after Union health minister JP Nadda gave a detailed, pointwise reply to issues raised by state minister Brahm Mohindra. To show its protest, the Punjab delegation led by Mohindra had boycotted a pact-signing signing ceremony held at Shimla on May 14.
This boycott was followed by Mohindra writing to Nadda on June 7 in which Punjab again raised its concerns. “Government of India has acknowledged the issues raised by us with respect to implementation of the scheme, and has given a detailed reply to redress our grievances. We are going to implement the scheme now and Punjab is likely to sign an MoU in this regard very soon,” Mohindra told HT.
On the concerns about not always getting the 60% contribution of the Union government towards premium of the insurance, Nadda through a June 25 letter to Mohindra has acknowledged Punjab’s contention that states will have to bear full cost if the premium goes beyond ceiling rates.
“All states are aware of this provision and till now 22 states or UTs have signed the MoU with this condition. The national ceiling rates have not been decided in advance as it might influence the premium to be quoted by the insurance company. This issue is presently under active consideration and a decision to this effect shall be taken shortly,” Nadda said in the letter, a copy of which is with HT.
{{/usCountry}}“All states are aware of this provision and till now 22 states or UTs have signed the MoU with this condition. The national ceiling rates have not been decided in advance as it might influence the premium to be quoted by the insurance company. This issue is presently under active consideration and a decision to this effect shall be taken shortly,” Nadda said in the letter, a copy of which is with HT.
{{/usCountry}}Regarding administrative cost, the Union minister has stated that Rs 50 per family per year has been fixed, of which the state has to contribute Rs 20. For Aayushman Mitras, that is, the staff that will be hired to run the scheme in every hospital, Nadda has stated that the salary to these employees will be paid by the empanelled hospitals. For government hospitals, they can be funded through the income that will be earned through payment of claims, said the letter. Mohindra earlier stated that the Centre was not clear on the monthly salaries to these employees which would have cost the crores.
On package rates, Nadda has stated that states will have the flexibility to reduce the rates as much as they want. If the state is already implementing any scheme, as Punjab is doing, and the package rates of the existing scheme are different from rates prescribed by the Union government, then the state is also free to continue using its existing rates.
The only issue with Punjab now is how to align Modicare with the state’s plan to implement universal state health insurance programme. “Our department has already sent a proposal for the state scheme to our finance department. We are trying to find ways how we can collaborate and synergise Centre’s scheme with our own schemes,” said the Punjab minister.
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