Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana(RSBY)-Highlights

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment

24-March-2013

Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana(RSBY)-Highlights

          
            Shri Anil Swarup Additional Secretary and Director General (Labour Welfare) in the Ministry of Labour & Employment today had a presentation on the Flagship Programme- Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). Shri Swarup was addressing the concluding session of the two day National Editor’s conference here in New Delhi.
 
            Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) was launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India in 2008 to provide health insurance cover to Below Poverty Line population and informal sector workers of India. The objective of the scheme is to protect these families from shocks related to catastrophic expenditures on health by improving access to health and reducing out of pocket expenditure.
 
Main Features of RSBY
 
·        This is a Smart Card based cashless and paperless social health insurance scheme.
 
·        It provides annual hospitalisation cover up to Rs. 30,000 for a family of five members through health insurance companies. Families pay only a registration fee of Rs. 30 and get a RSBY smart card which helps in accessing empaneled hospitals across the country for in-patient treatment.
 
·        Transportation expenses up to Rs. 1,000 per year are provided in cash for travelling to the hospital.
 
·        All pre-existing diseases are covered from day one. There is no age limit to enrol in the scheme.
 
·        75 % of the cost (premium) of the scheme is borne by Central Government (90% in case of Jammu & Kashmir and North-Eastern States) and the rest is borne out by respective State government.
 
·        State Governments can top-up the coverage amount beyond Rs. 30,000.
 
·         Started in few districts in 2008, the scheme has spread into 486 districts across 28 States and Union Territories as of December 2012.
 
·         15 insurance companies along with 25 Third Party Administrators (TPAs) are involved in implementing the scheme.
 
·         The premium charged by insurance companies has large variations ranging from Rs. 224 to Rs. 745 per family per year in a district. The average premium which was Rs. 600 in 2008 has come down to Rs. 350 in 2012.
 
·         Around 12,000 hospitals are empanelled under RSBY to provide hospitalisation benefits to the enrolled members in RSBY – 70 per cent are private hospitals and 30 per cent are public hospitals.
 
·         Though almost all cases of hospitalization are covered, package rates have been fixed for around 1,100 procedures. 
 

·                     The number of families that are enrolled in RSBY has gone up from 4 million on 31st March 2009 to 34.16 million on 28th February 2013 (The estimated enrolment for the year 2012-213 was 34.1 million which has already been achieved by February 2013). Beginning with 12,500 hospitalisation cases in the financial year 2008-09, it has increased to 1.75 million such cases in 2011-12. As of 28th February 2013, total hospitalisation cases stands at 4.98 million. Exhibits 2 and 3 show some trends over the years.
 
·         There are about 171 million persons living-in-households-with-a-RSBY-Smart Card and 119 million of them are enrolled in the scheme. (Currently the average number of persons enrolled per household in RSBY is 3.5.)
 
·         Enrolment of Females in the scheme has increased by 20% from Round 1 to Round 4. Also, for the enrolled females, the average female hospitalization ratio (total female hospitalisation cases/total females enrolled) has increased from 4.53% to 6.6% during the same period.
 
 
·         There are about 171 million persons living-in-households-with-a-RSBY-Smart Card and 119 million of them are enrolled in the scheme. (Currently the average number of persons enrolled per household in RSBY is 3.5.)
 
·         There has been an improvement in access to Healthcare. Health infrastructure being set up in remote areas by the private sector.
-3/-
:3:
·         Public Sector hospitals have been competing and improving performance to gain access to flexible funds and incentives.
 
·         Penetration in the areas affected by extremist activities.
 
Recognition by International Organisations     
·         The scheme has been selected as one of the top 18 social security schemes for publication in a document “Sharing Innovative Experiences: Social Protection Floor Success Stories” brought out by UNDP
 
·         World Bank has observed that “The experience with the design and implementation of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in particular, is one of the most promising efforts in India to bridge this gap by providing health insurance to millions of poor households. The program is now internationally recognized for its innovative approach to harnessing information technology to reach the poor.”
 
·         A number of countries like Bangladesh, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Ghana, Nigeria, Vietnam and Indonesia have shown interest in the scheme and delegations have visited to fathom the nuances.
 
 
source-pib

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Govtempdiary

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading