Delay in NHPS rollout may cost State dear

Isaac had hoped it could augment State’s own comprehensive health insurance scheme

The Centre’s delay in rolling out the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), as announced in the Union Budget 2016-17, has become a nagging source of worry for the State government, which had proposed to evolve its own comprehensive health insurance scheme by integrating the innumerable beneficiary schemes in the State, including Karunya and the proposed NHPS health cover.

When Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac had announced in last year’s revised Budget that an estimated ₹1,000 crore would be required for floating the scheme, his calculation had been that the NHPS, which proposed a coverage of ₹1 lakh per family, could leverage the State’s proposed health insurance scheme.

₹1-lakh cover

Under the NHPS, the Centre proposed that every below- poverty-line (BPL) family would be given a health cover of ₹1 lakh annually, plus an additional package of ₹30,000 for senior citizens.

“The NHPS was expected to be rolled out this April. Our estimation was that we could augment the coverage provided by the scheme, by integrating all the budgeted beneficiary schemes in the State, along with the NHPS, under a unified scheme. This meant that without incurring additional financial burden, the State can provide a better annual health cover package to more people in the State. But the Centre has let us down by not announcing NHPS,” Additional Chief Secretary (Health), Rajeev Sadanandan told

The Hindu .

Additional funds

The delay in announcing the NHPS meant that the State would have to find additional funds to provide the kind of health cover package that it had envisaged under the comprehensive health insurance scheme.

The new financial implications for the State to roll out the scheme would now have to be worked out again, he said.

Seven schemes

While the government had no intention of stopping any beneficiary scheme abruptly, there would be no going back on the State’s decision to unify all the seven major schemes — RSBY-CHIS, CHIS Plus, Arogyakiranam, Thalolam, Sukrutham, Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund, and Karunya Benevolent Fund — run by various departments.

“These schemes are run with different administrative machineries and different guidelines. A patient’s sole concern should be that s/he receives assured treatment and cashless service at the hospital. It was the State Planning Board’s expert committee on health that recommended that a single window scheme be evolved by integrating the budgets of all beneficiary schemes. The new comprehensive health insurance scheme will be a foolproof system with mechanisms for pre-authorisation of procedures, clear list of medical procedures and its cost, clinical audit, and an integrated e-health platform,” a senior official said.