Former Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac has expressed concerns over the State's move to adopt the Andhra model health insurance scheme by removing Above Poverty Line (APL) card holders from the existing Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CHIS).
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Dr. Isaac said the Andhra model, to have separate insurance schemes for the APL and BPL card holders, was not necessary in Kerala where the public healthcare system was on an entirely different level from that of the one in Andhra Pradesh.
The CHIS was a model that proved to be successful, yet the United Democratic Front (UDF) government was attempting to alter it in such a way that would lead to its disintegration. The move to avoid the APL families from the CHIS would only alienate them from the public healthcare system, apart from making the existing scheme uneconomic, Dr. Isaac said, demanding that the decision had to be reviewed immediately.
