J&K Govt Announces Free Health Insurance Scheme For Residents, To Benefit 15 Lakh Families

The Jammu and Kashmir government has announced the Jammu and Kashmir Health Scheme under which the administration will provide universal health insurance coverage to all the residents of the Union Territory.

The announcement was made by the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on September 11.

"Jammu and Kashmir Health Scheme will provide universal health insurance coverage to all the residents of Jammu and Kashmir. This will be implemented in convergence with Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)," Manoj Sinha announced.

The officials said it would also include employees and retired government officers and their families.

"It will have the same benefits as available under AB-PMJAY with an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family on a floater basis," officials said.

This scheme will cover nearly 15 lakh families over and above the 5.97 lakh families already covered under AB-PMJAY. Besides, 1,592 medical packages have been approved under AB-PMJAY for all the J&K Health Scheme beneficiaries.

Life threatening diseases such as cancer, kidney failure and treatment of COVID-19 are also covered under the scheme. There are no restrictions on family size or age and all pre-existing medical conditions shall also be covered under the scheme.

The scheme shall cover 3 days of pre-hospitalisation, hospitalisation and 15 days of post-hospitalisation costs, including diagnostic care and expenditure on medicines.

The health department will launch a beneficiary registration process to distribute Golden Cards (e-cards) amongst the beneficiaries soon.

The government will incur a financial cost of nearly Rs 123 crore every year for this scheme that will be implemented through insurance service provider Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Company Ltd.

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