The ambitious scheme aims to cover over 10 crore “poor and vulnerable” families — an estimated 50 crore individual beneficiaries — with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.
National health protection scheme :
The scheme aims to cover over 10 crores “poor and vulnerable” families — an estimated 50 crore individual beneficiaries — with coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.
According to the Aayog’s report, based on actuarial calculations, the premium for each family is likely to be between Rs 1,000-1,200 with the annual cost of the scheme in the range of Rs 12,000 crore. The tentative timelines drawn up are likely to get approvals from the Union Cabinet and the Expenditure Finance Committee by March when the stakeholder consultations will take place. The tender’s deadline would be July.
According to reports, the expected coverage to be achieved in the first year is 50 percent, and the money required around Rs 5,000-6,000 crore. So far, Rs 2,000 crore has been sanctioned.
Health Minister J P Nadda and Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said resources would not be an issue, especially with the announcement of a health and education cess that would bring in an additional Rs 11,000 crore according to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.Kant said the real challenge was not resources but implementation.
Launching of the scheme :
THE NITI Aayog is working towards a launch on Independence day of the government’s latest flagship National Health Protection Scheme, which was announced in the Union Budget Thursday.
Top officials in the Aayog said that Gandhi Jayanti, on October 2, was the “upper limit” deadline for the formal launch while the full-scale rollout, subject to the pace of work by states, is expected to take place in about one-and-a-half years. Consultations with states are expected to start next week.
“Gandhi Jayanti is the latest by which the scheme will be launched. We, in fact, are working towards an Independence Day launch. We are ready. Work has been going on for very long now,” said Niti Aayog member (health) Dr V K Paul.