West bengal becomes first state to opt out of “Modicare”

West Bengal became the first state to opt out of the National Health protection scheme unveiled in the Union Budget. CM Mamata Banerjee announced  that the state will not “waste” its hard-earned resources to contribute its share to the programme. 

What is “Modicare”?

•  On february1 the Union Budget announced the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), the biggest such global plan to provide quality health coverage to a population larger than the combined citizenry of the US, France, Germany and the UK.
• Called ‘Modicare’, the plan seeks to extend health insurance to 500 million people from financially vulnerable households, meaning that about four in ten Indians would have access to modern medicine, critical care, and quality tertiary care through private and state facilities — financed through a Rs 5-lakh per family insurance cap

The decision of West Bengal Government

• The Centre has drawn up a health plan in which 40% of the fund has to come from states.According to CM Mamata Banerjee the state already has its own programme and it donot feel the need to spend on another programme.

National Health Protection Scheme                                                                                                                                                                               

• Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will have a defined benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year.

Benefits of the scheme

• a] portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country
• b]Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will be an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database.
• c]The beneficiaries can avail benefits in both public and empanelled private facilities.
• d]To control costs, the payments for treatment will be done on package rate (to be defined by the Government in advance) basis.
• e]One of the core principles of Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission is to co-operative federalism and flexibility to states.
• f]For giving policy directions and fostering coordination between Centre and States, it is proposed to set up Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission Council (AB-NHPMC) at apex level Chaired by Union Health and Family Welfare Minister.
• g]States would need to have State Health Agency (SHA) to implement the scheme.
• h]To ensure that the funds reach SHA on time, the transfer of funds from Central Government through Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission to State Health Agencies may be done through an escrow account directly.
• i]In partnership with NITI Aayog, a robust, modular, scalable and interoperable IT platform will be made operational which will entail a paperless, cashless transaction.
  

By: Jagjot