20 states sign up for Modicare; four non-BJP states abstain

INDIA-HEALTH/STERILIZATION Representational image

Barring four states ruled by opposition parties—West Bengal, Delhi, Punjab and Odisha—most others have readily jumped on the Modicare bandwagon. 

Even as the Centre is preparing to launch the world's largest healthcare scheme in August this year, the four states are playing party pooper by refusing to sign up for the big ticket insurance scheme, officially known as Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme. 

On Tuesday, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced the Biju Patnaik Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, a health scheme that would provide assistance of upto Rs 5 lakh per family in government hospitals for 3.5 crore people in the state. The scheme will also be launched on August 15, the date set for the launch of Ayushman Bharat-NHPS too. 

However, 20 other states such as Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre today. Most of the states that signed the document today are either ruled by BJP, or, as in Jammu and Kashmir, by a coalition government with the BJP. Another five states are expected to join in by the end of the month, taking the tally to 25.

The WEEK had reported on Monday that the Union ministry of health and family welfare would be holding a conclave with the states in the national capital on Thursday to sign MoUs on the health insurance scheme that is expected to benefit 50 crore families in the country. 

The Centre and states would be sharing the costs for the scheme, with the Centre contributing 60 per cent of the funds. “We shall work together, learn together, so that we work with the spirit of cooperative federalism, to perfect this largest health assurance scheme of the world,” Health Minister J.P. Nadda said in a statement.

"The success of the scheme hinges on the active participation of the states. States need to own the scheme while the Centre will design the policy framework with all possible flexibility and support," he said. 

Exchanging MoUs is an important step in formalising the partnership between the Centre and the states, he said. Nadda also said that states would have flexibility in deciding the packages that would be reserved for the public sector hospitals (for reimbursement under the scheme).

At the conclave, Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat Mission, asked the states to seek approval and release RFP (request for proposal is a type of bidding solicitation in which a company/organisation announces that funding is available for a project and companies can place bids for its completion) for insurance company hiring (in case of insurance mode) or implementation support agency (ISA) in case of trust mode implementation. States are going either with a trust model, or an insurance model, though ministry officials maintain that they favour the trust model. 

A web portal for initiating the empanelment of hospitals under the Ayushman Bharat mission was also launched today. In the next two weeks, trainings for the empanelment software will be done, and states can start the empanelments by July 1.