A group of ministers (GoM) meeting chaired by Home Minister Rajnath Singh Monday discussed a Rs 4,000-crore annual expansion plan for the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana to cover 8 crore families under what is being tentatively called the National Health Protection Scheme.
The new scheme, according to the plan, will cover poor families and labourers, among others, as per deprivation statistics given in the latest socio-economic caste survey (SECC) with a minimum package of Rs 50,000 per family, with a provision of a top-up of Rs 30,000 for every senior citizen and a transportation allowance of Rs 250 for every hospitalisation. There will be no ceiling on the number of family members that can be covered. The scheme is estimated to cost Rs 23,415 crore over a period of five years.
