New Delhi: This year's Independence Day speech of Prime Minister Narendra Modi would create a milestone in the health sector of the country. According to sources, the PM is all set to announce the date of rolling out world's largest public health insurance scheme from the ramparts of Red Fort on Independence Day.
According to sources, the PM would announce on August 15 that the new health insurance scheme, which will provide insurance cover to 10 crore vulnerable families that translates into 50 crore beneficiaries, would be rolled out from October 2.
Earlier, PM Modi had announced about the launching of the clean India campaign from October 2 in his maiden Independence Day speech in 2014.
Hailing the move a senior official said, "The country is going beyond the poll promises of providing foodgrains (wheat and rice) at Rs 2/3 per kg to providing health insurance cover of up to Rs 5 lakh to every poor."
"There would be no cap on family size and the scheme would be free only for people belonging to economically weaker sections. The scheme can also be availed by those families who are not economically weak and in this case, the premiums would have to be paid by beneficiaries," the official said.
"The scheme would be paperless, cashless and it would be linked to Aadhaar. Beneficiaries without Aadhaar would not be denied from availing the scheme, which would be launched in the partnership with the states. The Centre would bear 60 percent of the project cost, while states would have to share 40 percent share of the financial burden," the official said.
According to the official, the Centre is working on rolling out the scheme either through social welfare trust mode or by insurance company mode, which means the government would create a trust on the lines of ESIC for its better implementation. As the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his Budget speech had said that the scheme would be aspirational, the states would be free to either join or stay away from the scheme.
According to sources, the premiums would range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200 for Rs 5 lakh coverage. Normally, a beneficiary has to pay between Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 to avail a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.
"Providing affordable medical facilities to poor is the outcome of strong political will and the present government under the leadership of PM Modi has that will," said Health Minister JP Nadda.
The scheme, which will replace the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), is expected to significantly increase healthcare facilities, particularly in smaller towns and villages.