Chattisgarh Becomes First Indian State to Provide Health Insurance for All Citizens

Chattisgarh’s state government has announced a medical cover for all citizens under a special plan, the Chief Minister Health Insurance Scheme.

The Chief Minister of Chattisgarh, Mr Raman Singh, also holds the portfolio of the finance department. He announced the launch of the plan while presenting the state budget 2012-13 in the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly on Sunday afternoon. Rs 60 crore had been made available in the budget outlay for the scheme in the next fiscal.

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‘Chhattisgarh will be the first state in the country to launch such a health insurance scheme that would leave no one living in the state uncovered,’ the Chief Minister said. ‘The scheme will not differ between rich and poor and anyone can avail its benefits,’ he added.

According to Mr Singh, free insurance cover worth Rs 30,000 would be provided to each family. A total of 5.62 million families in Chhattisgarh would be benefited by the plan.

The state’s Budget estimates for the fiscal 2012-13 has allocated 34 per cent of the total plan expenditure for tribal sub-plan and 11 per cent for the scheduled caste sub-plan area.

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The state’s plan outlay of Rs 20,260 crore is higher than the current year’s allocation. About 85 per cent of state’s plan is funded from the state’s own resources.

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Source-Medindia

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