The Punjab Government is all set to roll out its Mukh Mantri Sehat Bima Yojana across the state in mid-January.A tentative launch date of January 15 has been fixed for this scheme that will provide health insurance cover of up to Rs 10 lakh per family per year.Though the scheme was announced by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in July, its rollout was delayed as the government was in the process of finalising the insurer and empanelling hospitals. Sources in the government have told The Tribune that United India Insurance has now been roped in to provide this cashless insurance for three crore Punjabis. The scheme will cover over 2,000 medical procedures and surgeries in the empanelled hospitals.“We had initially started enrolling families for this universal health insurance scheme in October, as a pilot in Tarn Taran and Barnala. Nearly 46,000 families, with 1.50 lakh members, have been enrolled and given the Mukh Mantri Sehat Cards. From January 1, these cards will be issued to people living in all other districts as well,” said a senior officer in the Health department. It is estimated that 65 lakh families in the state will benefit from the scheme.
The government is in the process of finalising hospitals to be empanelled for giving this cashless health treatment. It is learnt that 750 odd hospitals have already been empanelled, and the government is looking at empanelling a total of 1,000 hospitals before the scheme is rolled out.
It is learnt that the insurance company will bear the cost of treatment of up to Rs 1 lakh, while the remaining cost of treatment will be borne by the state government. The contract with the insurer will initially be for a period of two years.
It may be mentioned that under the previous universal health insurance scheme of the state government, Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana, launched by the previous Congress government, families were getting cashless insurance up to Rs 5 lakh. In the new scheme, the insurance cover has been doubled. A sum of Rs 778 crore was set aside in the state Budget for this fiscal to roll out this scheme.