"Ayushman Bharat" Healthcare scheme will not help the poor of India. In April 2008 during UPA Govt, the ministry of labour and employment launched the RSBY- Rashtriya
swasthya Bima Yojana. The government decided to “experiment” with the insurance schemes after it failed to provide stronger public health infrastructure, said the RSBY website. Its model was to "provide hospitalisation care through a combination of Private Hospitals and Insurance Companies". Website: http://www.rsby.gov.in/
India’s National Health Insurance Scheme (RSBY) Has Failed Its Poor.
On 31/03/2017 the data were- Active Smart Cards- 36,332,475
Total Hospitalisation Cases-14,084,587 It shows that only one out of three card holder families used the scheme only one time in nine years.
This scheme remained unused & was a failure. The present NDA Govt of PM Modi has not properly examined the RSBY scheme's failure- definitely not in public domain. Surely RSBY was a Pilot Project and its success / failures should have been publically discussed before launching a new sheme.
Now Modi Govt has come out with "Ayushman Bharat" Healthcare scheme for the poor with an annual cover of Rs 5 lakh for a family.
Indications are that this scheme will also provide no relief to the poor population. It will provide "Propaganda Ammunition" for the 2019 election campaign of Modi and BJP.
- by Dr. Chandra Bhushan Choudhary
National Treasurer, Samajwadi Jan Parishad
Ranchi, India
Thanks!