bpl

Health cover for BPL families from April
Bisheshwar Mishra | TNN
New Delhi: The prospects of launching the world’s largest paperless, cashless insurance scheme through smart cards to cover the country’s six crore below poverty line (BPL) families, from April 1, took concrete shape on Friday, when 95% of states agreed in principle to actively participate in this venture. The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY) scheme will take care of Rs 30,000 of the annual hospitalisation expenditure of 5 members of a BPL family in any part of the country, even if they migrate. This will be made possible by the use of smart cards which cannot be misused by anybody else. In all, 60 million cards will be issued under the RSBY scheme over the next five years. Each year, 1.2 crore BPL family members will be targeted. The BPL beneficiary has to pay only Rs 30 per year to get the smart card with his thumb impression on the chip for identification purposes. The labour ministry officer Anil Swarup who is anchoring the mega project, said that states like Delhi, Haryana, Gujarat and many others have already advertised the project and are ready to issue tenders. He is confident that the project will succeed "because it is a business model to fulfil a social purpose. Everybody gains from it’’. He said that, considering the huge numbers and the funds involved, there are business opportunities for all key players like insurance companies, hospitals, smart card service providers and intermediaries. On an average, around Rs 7.5 crore will be pumped in in each district. "This will create business opportunities, as there will be incentives for private sector health providers to set up health-related infrastructure,’’ Swarup said. Sources confirmed that many private investors had started inquiring about the districts which were being selected initially for the scheme, as they wanted to set up hospitals there. Many states were initially reluctant to participate in the scheme for various reasons, but now almost all off them have come on board. The Centre will bear 75% of the cost, and the states 25%. The Centre will follow the BPL list that it has, and state governments will be responsible for identifying the BPL beneficiaries. Senior technical director of National Informatics Centre (NIC) S K Sinha, who developed the technical system for the smart card, said this is the only safe and reliable system which eliminates all misuse and corruption. LIFE UMBRELLA The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna scheme will take care of Rs 30,000 annual hospitalisation expenditure of five members of a BPL family in any part of the country even if they migrate The BPL beneficiary has to pay Rs 30 per year to get the smart card with his thumb impression on the chip to identify Each year, 1.2 crore BPL family members will be targeted

regards,

denny john---------------------------------------------------------------

FacultyInstitute of Public Health, BangaloreC/o Share Your CareBhaktivedanta HospitalMira Road, Thane DistMaharashtra State