J&K residents to get Rs 5 lakh health insurance

In a major relief to the people of Jammu and Kashmir, the government on Wednesday extended the free health insurance coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family to all the 1.25 crore residents of the Union Territory.

The decision came at a meeting of the advisory council chaired by UT’s Lt Governor G C Murmu which accorded sanction to rolling out the Jammu & Kashmir Health Scheme to provide free of cost Universal Health Coverage to all residents of the Union Territory in convergence with Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY. Now, around 1.25 crore residents of J&K will be provided the same benefits as are provided under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, said Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education Atal Dulloo. At present, 5.95 lakh families numbering 31 lakh persons are eligible for benefits under Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, he said, adding around 15 lakh additional families will be covered under the Jammu & Kashmir Health Scheme.

Under this Universal Health Coverage, the beneficiaries shall be entitled to free health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year on floater basis and there is no restriction on family size, age or gender. All pre-existing illnesses shall also be covered besides; cashless services shall also be available in all the empanelled hospitals.

The beneficiaries under the scheme shall have access to 20,853 (public and private) hospitals across the country and avail benefits with facility of inter-state portability. In J&K, 159 (public and private) hospitals are empanelled at present. It shall provide coverage to 1469 medical and surgical packages/procedures including life consuming diseases, such as, cancer and kidney failure.

Treatment for oncology, cardiology and nephrology related illness will be covered from day one including high-end diagnostic procedures during hospitalization. The beneficiaries shall also be eligible for coverage of 3 days pre-hospitalisation and 15 days post hospitalization expenses. As per the decision of the Administrative Council, all employees, pensioners and their family members are also covered under the Jammu & Kashmir Health Scheme. The employees shall continue to get Rs 300 per month as medical allowance to take care of OPD treatment.

Identification of the eligible families for getting registered for the Health Scheme will be made on the basis of socio-economic census 2011. However, the families/persons that have been left out in the census can be enrolled on the basis of a defined process, he added.

Source: The Indian Express