West Bengal opts out of world's largest govt funded healthcare program 'Modicare'

Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal had become first state to opt out from the world's largest government funded healthcare program 'Modicare'. 

By following the move, the state has become first state to do so. West Bengal government claimed that the it had already enrolled 50 lakh people under its own Swasthya Sathi programme. 

The Times of India reported the CM as saying during a public meeting in Krishnanagar on Tuesday, "The Centre has drawn up a health plan in which 40% of the fund has to come from states. But why should the state spend on another programme when it already has its own? A state will have its own scheme if it has the resources."

Meanwhile,Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan to provide health insurance for about half the country's population would require an estimated Rs 11,000 crore ($1.7 billion) in federal and state funding each year, sources familiar with the matter said.

The scheme, which the government dubs "Modicare", was announced during federal budget for 2018/19 and would provide 100 million families, or about 500 million poor people, with health cover of 500,000 rupees per year for free treatment of serious ailments.

Several Indian states now offer health insurance but these schemes are generally small and poorly implemented. Modi faces a national election next year and the new health programme is seen as a signature initiative to woo voters in the countryside, many of whom struggle with high healthcare costs.

The government estimates the cost of insuring each family under the new scheme at about 1,100 rupees ($17.15), said a government official who had direct knowledge of the matter and did not want to be identified.

Officials have said "the world's largest government funded health care programme" would have a federal allocation of 20 billion rupees in 2018-19, but added that more funds would be made available as the programme is rolled out over the year.