Maharashtra pays 713 crore premium for Ayushman Bharat scheme

National Insurance Company has bagged the Ayushmaan Bharat account of Maharashtra. The state has paid a premium of Rs 713 crore for the scheme, which started from January 1, for six months and indicated it would like to extend it for the whole year afterwards.

NIC has agreed to run scheme with premium of Rs 640 per family per year. There will be a prospective saving of Rs 111 crore annually for the state government. Earlier, Maharashtra was paying a premium of Rs 690 per family.

NIC has been the insurer of state’s flagship scheme Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana, that provides cover for Rs 1.5 lakh, since 2012 and has given benefit to more than 21 lakh beneficiaries till date. Since November 2016, the premium for the scheme increased from Rs 333 per family per year to Rs 690 per family per year over a period of five years. The scheme provides cover to 2.25 crore family in the state. The scheme will now include 83 lakh families who would be now eligible for the facilities under Ayushmaan Bharat scheme.