National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) beneficiaries will soon get free healthcare and insurance cover against serious ailment, as the government is planning to extend the benefits of Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojna (RSBY) to all NREGA beneficiaries.
The decision, taken during a high level meeting at the prime minister’s office last week, would cover over 40 lakh NREGA beneficiaries and their family members, taking the total number of actual beneficiaries to roughly 1.5 crore.
The NREGA beneficiaries will be issued a biometric smart card for cashless transactions up to Rs30,000 so that the workers have to pay nothing against medical treatment. The portable card will carry a unique identification number. The insurance will not only take care of hospitalisation charges but also all pre-existing diseases.
RSBY is a unique health insurance scheme for below poverty line (BPL) families. There are about 55 lakh RSBY beneficiary families in the country, covering roughly 2 crore people.
However, senior officials said the government now wants to extend this benefit to NREGA workers living above poverty line (APL), the only criteria being the NREGA beneficiaries should have been employed for at least 15 days or more in the last financial year.
Also, the scheme will cover only those NREGA workers who are otherwise not covered by RSBY in the BPL list.
The ministry of rural development has been asked to prepare a village-wise data of all NREGA beneficiaries who are not in the BPL list already prepared by RSBY.
The list will be passed on to the labour ministry, that runs RSBY, to compare with the existing list of BPL data and flag the non-BPL families based on the common family identity. The consolidated list will be placed on the website for subsequent use by the selected insurance company.
While the government is working out the financial liability, it has been decided that the annual premium amount for the insurance will be shared 75:25 between the Centre and states and the worker will have to pay a token Rs30 as registration or renewal fee.
Smart card
Centre plans to extend Rashtriya Swasthya Beema Yojna benefits to National Rural Employment Guarantee Act beneficiaries
Beneficiaries will get a biometric smart card for cashless transactions up to Rs30,000 for medical treatment
The portable card will carry a unique identification number
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