NHPS: Government allocates Rs 10,000 crore to implement 'Modicare' during 2018-19
NEW DELHI: The central government has decided to allocate Rs10,000 crore over the next year to implement the National Health Protection Scheme, said health minister JP Nadda in a press briefing about the ministry’s roadmap for the scheme on Thursday. This amount is flexible and will be used to cover costs like setting up technology systems and verifying entitled beneficiaries in addition to payment of premiums in states opting for an insurance model, according to him.
This amount is separate from the Rs 85,217 crore budgetary support approved by the union cabinet for the centre’s contribution to the National Health Mission until March 2020, said officials close to the development.
The Rs10,000 crore funding is expected to come from the additional 1% health cess announced during the union budget, an official present at the briefing told ET on condition of anonymity.
NHPS, known unofficially as ‘Modicare’, received the union cabinet’s approval on Wednesday night and is expected to provide 100 million poor and vulnerable families cover of up to Rs 5 lakh for secondary and tertiary treatment.
The scheme would be the largest government funded healthcare program in the world, said finance minister Arun Jaitley when he announced it under the government’s in the union budget on February 1. It is expected to rein in patient hospitalisation expenditure, which has increased nearly 300% over the last decade in India, according to a release about the cabinet’s approval.
The health ministry has laid out a four-month timeline to ensure that the scheme is ready for implementation. The scheme will be rolled out in all states at the same time as opposed to a rollout in select states in a phased manner that the government had earlier considered, said officials at the briefing.
By July, the ministry will have worked out operational guidelines for states, issued tender and contract models and finalised the types of treatment packages that the scheme is applicable to, according to Nadda. It will also authenticate the data provided in the Socio-Economic Caste Census along with the rural development ministry for updated information that it can use to identify the beneficiaries of the scheme, he said.
Between April and June, the ministry will also make operational the National Health Agency expected to manage the scheme’s implementation at the central level and will also carry out zonal meetings with states to “fine-tune” the system, according to him.
District officials will be trained, tenders awarded and hospitals empanelled by June end, according to him. In July, the ministry will begin testing the IT system for the scheme in different states so that it is ready to launch when required, he said.
“This is a new scheme. We have included all the learnings from RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana) and state programs (in preparing it),” said Nadda. The minister did not clarify what insurance premium rates it was seeking to pay for the Rs 5 lakh cover, but added that the scheme’s budget would not be a problem and that more funds can be infused towards its implementation if required.
The expenditure incurred in premium payment will be shared between the central and state governments in a “specified” ratio and would depend on actual market-determined premiums in the states and Union territories where it will be rolled out, stated a release following the cabinet’s approval of the scheme on Wednesday.
Nearly 1,350 procedure packages, including for cancer care, are currently being worked out and will include various elements like the cost of medicines required in the treatment, according to health secretary Preeti Sudan. In the first phase, the packages will not include organ transplants, she added.
The government intends to provide family cards with unique QR codes to entitled beneficiaries of the scheme and this code will be set based on the verified address information of the families, according to her.
While states have not explicitly told the centre whether they will opt for insurance or trust models, Sudan said that the government intends to gradually encourage them to opt for trust models going forward.
When the scheme was first announced in February, the government had estimated its cost to be around Rs10,000 crore annually, with only Rs 5,000 crore required initially as only 50% entitled families were expected to be covered in the first year. Government think tank Niti Aayog had initially estimated the premium per family to be around Rs 1,000-1,200, translating to Rs10,000-12,000 crore for the full rollout of the scheme.
This amount is separate from the Rs 85,217 crore budgetary support approved by the union cabinet for the centre’s contribution to the National Health Mission until March 2020, said officials close to the development.
The Rs10,000 crore funding is expected to come from the additional 1% health cess announced during the union budget, an official present at the briefing told ET on condition of anonymity.
NHPS, known unofficially as ‘Modicare’, received the union cabinet’s approval on Wednesday night and is expected to provide 100 million poor and vulnerable families cover of up to Rs 5 lakh for secondary and tertiary treatment.
The scheme would be the largest government funded healthcare program in the world, said finance minister Arun Jaitley when he announced it under the government’s in the union budget on February 1. It is expected to rein in patient hospitalisation expenditure, which has increased nearly 300% over the last decade in India, according to a release about the cabinet’s approval.
The health ministry has laid out a four-month timeline to ensure that the scheme is ready for implementation. The scheme will be rolled out in all states at the same time as opposed to a rollout in select states in a phased manner that the government had earlier considered, said officials at the briefing.
By July, the ministry will have worked out operational guidelines for states, issued tender and contract models and finalised the types of treatment packages that the scheme is applicable to, according to Nadda. It will also authenticate the data provided in the Socio-Economic Caste Census along with the rural development ministry for updated information that it can use to identify the beneficiaries of the scheme, he said.
Between April and June, the ministry will also make operational the National Health Agency expected to manage the scheme’s implementation at the central level and will also carry out zonal meetings with states to “fine-tune” the system, according to him.
District officials will be trained, tenders awarded and hospitals empanelled by June end, according to him. In July, the ministry will begin testing the IT system for the scheme in different states so that it is ready to launch when required, he said.
“This is a new scheme. We have included all the learnings from RSBY (Rashtriya Swasthya Bhima Yojana) and state programs (in preparing it),” said Nadda. The minister did not clarify what insurance premium rates it was seeking to pay for the Rs 5 lakh cover, but added that the scheme’s budget would not be a problem and that more funds can be infused towards its implementation if required.
The expenditure incurred in premium payment will be shared between the central and state governments in a “specified” ratio and would depend on actual market-determined premiums in the states and Union territories where it will be rolled out, stated a release following the cabinet’s approval of the scheme on Wednesday.
Nearly 1,350 procedure packages, including for cancer care, are currently being worked out and will include various elements like the cost of medicines required in the treatment, according to health secretary Preeti Sudan. In the first phase, the packages will not include organ transplants, she added.
The government intends to provide family cards with unique QR codes to entitled beneficiaries of the scheme and this code will be set based on the verified address information of the families, according to her.
While states have not explicitly told the centre whether they will opt for insurance or trust models, Sudan said that the government intends to gradually encourage them to opt for trust models going forward.
When the scheme was first announced in February, the government had estimated its cost to be around Rs10,000 crore annually, with only Rs 5,000 crore required initially as only 50% entitled families were expected to be covered in the first year. Government think tank Niti Aayog had initially estimated the premium per family to be around Rs 1,000-1,200, translating to Rs10,000-12,000 crore for the full rollout of the scheme.