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- When the need to get the treatment arises for poor families they often ignore it because of lack of resources, fearing wage loss, or wait till the last moment when it’s too late.
- These tragic outcomes can be avoided through a health insurance which shares the risk of a major health shock across many households by pooling them together.
- Keeping this background in mind, Government of India decided to design a health insurance scheme which not only avoids the pitfalls of the earlier schemes but goes a step beyond and provides a world class model.
- Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana or RSBY started rolling from 1st April 2008.
- RSBY has been launched by Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India to provide health insurance coverage for Below Poverty Line (BPL) families.
- Beneficiaries under RSBY are entitled to hospitalization coverage up to Rs. 30,000/- for most of the diseases that require hospitalization.
- Pre-existing conditions are covered from day one and there is no age limit. Coverage extends to five members of the family which includes the head of household, spouse and up to three dependents.
- Unique Features of RSBY
- Empowering the beneficiary – RSBY provides the participating BPL household with freedom of choice between public and private hospitals
- Information Technology (IT) Intensive – For the first time IT applications are being used for social sector scheme on such a large scale. Every beneficiary family is issued a biometric enabled smart card containing their fingerprints and photographs.
- Portability – The key feature of RSBY is that a beneficiary who has been enrolled in a particular district will be able to use his/ her smart card in any RSBY empanelled hospital across India.
- Cash less and Paperless transactions – A beneficiary of RSBY gets cashless benefit in any of the empanelled hospitals.
