A Fillip For Healthcare
- Rs 5 lakh health insurance cover for 10.47 crore families
- Secondary & tertiary hospital care for 40 per cent of the population
- Government and private hospitals to be empanelled
- Pre-fixed procedure rates to protect poor
- PMO keen on below Rs 1,000 premium
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This Independence Day, the government promises deliverance from one of the biggest problems plaguing India’s poor: money to pay their medical bills. But many say the date to roll out Modicare—the catchier alias for Ayushman Bharat Mission, or National Health Protection Scheme—is chosen carefully to calibrate it with next year’s national elections. The signature initiative can be purposed to woo a large catchment of voters, many of whom struggle with rising medical costs and a crumbling public healthcare system.
The programme was announced in the Union Budget of 2018-19 to provide...
