Cabinet nod to integrate Ayushman Bharat with Arogya Karnataka scheme

BENGALURU: With PM Narendra Modi set to roll out Ayushman Bharat from Jharkhand on Sunday, Karnataka cabinet on Saturday gave its approval to integrate it with the state’s Arogya Karnataka scheme. The state has sent the MoU to the Centre for signature and the integrated Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka will be operational in the state thereafter, according to Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust officials, the implementing agency in the state.

“Arogya Karnataka Scheme has 1,516 procedures while Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Mission has 1,349 treatment procedures. By integrating these two schemes the total number of treatment procedures will be 1,628.

Under the integrated scheme, the financial assistance for BPL beneficiaries will be increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh per family per year and for APL families the financial assistance will be up to Rs 1.50 lakh per family per year,” a statement from the state health department said.The budget estimated is Rs 1,000 crore, of which Government of India share will be about Rs 286 crore. The rest of theRs 782 crore will be borne by the State.

Karnataka has implemented a universal health scheme called Arogya Karnataka since March and is providing specified secondary care, emergency care, complex secondary care and tertiary care. The financial assistance in Arogya Karnataka is up to Rs 1.5 lakh, per family, per year, for BPL families with buffer amount of Rs 50,000 per year in case of a family needing emergency tertiary healthcare treatment, even after full utilisation of the annual limit, and for ‘General’ families that are not eligible under the NFSA 2013, financial assistance is 30 per cent of the package rate.

Government of India came up with  Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Scheme in March to provide health care to urban and rural poor, and vulnerable families. Under Arogya Karnataka, the State Government is providing financial assistance up to Rs 2 lakh, per family, per year, for 1.15 lakh BPL Families, whereas Ayushman Bharat provides healthcare to the beneficiaries that are in Socio Economic Caste Census  data only. GoI provides financial assistance up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for the SECC beneficiaries under Ayushman Bharat.

1.34 crore beneficiaries

In Karnataka, for the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana beneficiaries, around 62 lakh families, identified by the SECC data, GoI will provide 60% of the expenditure and 40% will be borne by the State Government.
Government of India and the State Government intend to integrate their respective schemes into one common scheme for implementation in Karnataka, as it is difficult to implement the schemes independently. Under Arogya Karnataka, the State Government is already providing health care to 1.15 lakh BPL families and 19 lakh APL families totalling 1.34 crore families.

In the integrated scheme, Government of India will bear 60% of the expenditure for the 62 lakh RSBY families only. 40% of expenditure for this group of beneficiaries will be borne by the State Government. In addition, for the remaining 72 lakh families, 100% of the scheme expenditure will be borne by Karnataka.