According to the AHIMA, the premium for health insurance of people with below poverty line (BPL) will be around Rs 750 per year, which will be divided into two policies: One will be the primary policy, which will cover only hospitalization and the other is the secondary policy, which will cover hospitalization of people who need more than just primary health insurance. On the primary policy, an individual will pay Rs 500 per year while on the secondary policy, he will pay an additional premium of Rs 1,500 per year.
The claim settlement ratio will be based on the premium, only claims, to be settled under the secondary insurance policy. The claim settlement ratio will be decided by the Ministry of Health. This is of course, subject to some of the schemes being allowed to function.
A full scale exercise has already been carried out to ensure that the health insurance policies are well equipped for meeting the requirements of people. Several cities in India now have comprehensive health insurance schemes for their citizens.
The initiative of the government for the health insurance is a welcome step for people. It will ensure that they are provided healthcare at affordable costs. It is also a good opportunity for the government to tap into this resource and provide best facilities to the citizens in rural and remote parts of the country. This is also a step in building health insurance policies of good value.
The main challenges of this initiative are:
How to get the health insurance policies approved in a speedy manner?
How to provide insurance cover to people who do not have any insurance policies at all?
How to cover the population of the country?
Who will fund the health insurance schemes?
How to deliver the health insurance benefits to people in rural and remote parts of the country?
Policymakers need to think in the perspective of addressing these challenges. They need to implement policies that are necessary for the health of the nation and provide people a complete protection for healthcare. They need to focus on generating resources that provide cost effective health services.
At the same time, policy makers need to ensure that health insurance policies are developed with all necessary safeguards in mind and are transparent.
On behalf of all insurance policy holders, I urge the government to ensure the health insurance policies are developed according to the guidelines and policies are executed at an optimal rate. This is of utmost importance for policy makers to ensure that health insurance policies are of high quality and are implemented to the best of their abilities.
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