India has progressed significantly in healthcare over the last two decades. However, it still lags way behind in ensuring the reach of healthcare to every citizen. According to a report presented by the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence in the supervision of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the year 2015-16, only 27% of Indian population possesses any kind of health insurance. This means that about a billion people in India do not have any form of health insurance.
For a country where about 70.6 million people are unable to make ends meet, expecting them to consider having health insurance is a stretch.
In order to protect this vulnerable population during health emergencies, the Government of India has introduced various healthcare insurance schemes that are affordable to everyone and provides basic health coverage to all.
1. Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Aka Modicare
This scheme was launched in September 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Ranchi Jharkhand. This world’s largest government-funded healthcare scheme is aimed at securing poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers’ families. The scheme will provide coverage of up to Rs. 5 lakhs per year for each eligible family for tertiary and secondary care hospitalization. This scheme will be available in public hospitals as well as chosen private hospitals with no cap on the family size. This scheme will subsume the existing Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojana.
2. Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS)
This insurance policy of the Government of India offers comprehensive medical facilities to the employees of Central Government, the pensioners, and their dependents. There are CGHS dispensaries for beneficiaries in many cities of the country who can choose to take Allopathic, Homeopathic, Yoga, Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani system medical treatments.
3. Employment State Insurance Scheme (ESIS)
This scheme is basically a system to provide multi-dimensional healthcare security to the worker population of India and their families. Generally, a factory or an organization with an employee strength of 10 or more can opt for this scheme for its employees. The employer pays 4.75%, whereas the employee pays 1.75% of the wages earned by an employee who is earning not more than Rs. 21,000/- every month. Under the scheme, the insured is entitled to not only complete medical care but also financial advantages in case of earning capability loss.
4. Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS)
UHIS is a joint venture of four general insurance companies of the private sector to provide healthcare facilities to families living below the poverty line. Under this scheme, the insured is reimbursed with Rs. 30,000 against medical expenses caused due to hospitalization. Death of the earning member of the family due to an accident is covered in this scheme, under which the family is given Rs.25, 000/- as compensation.
