HYDERABAD: Enhancing the benefit under the healthcare services in the state, the Congress government on Monday announced that the health insurance cover under the Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Scheme will be increased from the existing Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh per family per annum.
The government has added 163 new health procedures to the existing list of 1,672 procedures of the healthcare scheme, taking the total to 1,835.
The 163 new procedures will cost Rs 348 crore to the government. Out of these, 98 procedures come under the Ayushaman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), costing Rs 189 crore (60 per cent central share and 40 per cent state share), and 65 new codes under the state government costing Rs 158 crore.
In addition, of the existing 1,672 procedures, the rates for 1,375 procedures have been revised, with an overall increase of 20 per cent, which will be covered under the scheme. This will cost the government Rs 140 crore.
1,042 govt, 368 pvt hosps
The overall revised scheme will impose an additional burden of Rs 487 crore on the government and a 54 per cent increase in the total health budget.
The healthcare scheme will cover 1,042 government and 368 private hospitals in the state.
The announcement of increasing the health cover and adding a new set of procedures was made by Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha at a press meet at the Secretariat where he released the GO on enhanced benefits.
The enhancement was made following a recommendation by a committee which studied the existing Aarogyasri package rates.
The committee after consultation with specialists from the medical and surgical departments of Gandhi, Osmania, NIMS, and private hospitals made the recommendation for the inclusion of 163 new procedures under the Aarogyasri health scheme.
In addition, the government had directed the committee to adopt the Standard Schedule of Rates (SSR) and Final Therapy Rate (FTR) for revising the existing package rates of patients in the empanelled hospitals which fall under the umbrella of the health scheme.
Nod for revision of rates
The committee had proposed the revision of 1,375 package rates of the total 1,672 packages, for which the government has given the green signal, whereas the rates for the remaining 297 procedures will remain the same.
It is to be noted that Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy in a meeting with district collectors at the Secretariat on July 16 had instructed the officials to extend the Rs 10 lakh Aarogyasri health cover to all citizens in the state by delinking them from white ration card.