Govt plans health insurance for people below poverty line

Press Trust of India

New Delhi, November 5

The Union government would launch a new health insurance scheme soon to cover more than three lakh people living below poverty line in New Delhi.

The scheme would be funded through a corpus fund of Rs 400-500 crore by charging market rate from private hospitals, which have been allotted land at concessional rates by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and L&DO of the Centre.

The scheme has been initiated by the Urban Development Ministry. The ministry plans to put the corpus fund under an appropriate authority.

The scheme, a brain child of the Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, was initiated after the ministry found that the private hospitals in New Delhi, which were given land at concessional rates, were not adhering to the norm of providing 25 per cent free medical care facility to poor.

The sources said while the finer details of the scheme would be worked out with an insurance company, the people having a BPL card could be easily brought under the scheme. The premium of the insurance would be paid out of the interest accruing on the corpus fund