Rajiv Arogyashri Community Health Insurance Scheme comes under severe criticism in Andhra Pradesh

Star Health and Allied Insurance operates Andhra Pradesh’s universal health coverage plan, Arogyashri, for the economically backward sections of the state.

Andhra Pradesh’s universal health coverage plan Arogyashri, for the economically backward sections of the state, may soon be in trouble because of increasing flak being faced by the scheme.

The plan, known as the Rajiv Arogyashri Community Health Insurance Scheme (RACHIS), is reportedly proving to be a heavy burden on the state’s finances.

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The experiment in universal healthcare that started in April 2007 during the chief ministership of Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, is now being criticized for taking away about 50 per cent of the total Plan money on health in the state.

The plan also encourages expensive surgical interventions - many of them in the private sector, instead of promoting primary and preventive health care.

From the initial expenditure of Rs 50 crore in 2007 when it started, the total expenses incurred by the Andhra Pradesh government on Arogyashri, is now approximately Rs 1,400 crore annually. It claims to provide coverage to 233 of the 255 lakh below poverty line (BPL) families in the state.

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This is an increase of a whopping 2700 per cent in five years. In the same period, the Plan fund for health has grown up by about 200 per cent. The scheme covers surgical procedures costing up to Rs 2 lakh.

As early as in 2009, when the scheme was just 18 months old, a study commissioned by the Andhra Health Department, done by Mala Rao of the University of East London, had faulted RACHIS for its assumption that the public sector was providing primary healthcare to the extent that it should.

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The state Health Department has incidentally commissioned another assessment of the scheme by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) and the Academic Staff College of India, where Mala Rao is an advisor.

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Source-Medindia