Health Insurance for Poor fails to take off

 The Central Government's flagship programme of providing health insurance cover to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in Srinagar district has failed to take off due to lack of will by the its nodal agency, the State's Health Department.

The Jammu and Kashmir Government had announced a health insurance cover for 66,000 families in the two districts of state, Jammu and Srinagar, who fall in the category of Below Poverty Line (BPL).

The scheme known as Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), provides Rs 30, 000 to the families, after they pay a nominal registration fee of Rs 30.

The beneficiaries under RSBY scheme are entitled to cashless hospitalization coverage for most of the diseases through the network of identified hospitals up to expenditure of Rs 30,000 per family per annum.

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The scheme is for those people who are under BPL and can't afford medical aid. It covers five members of a family which include the head of the house, spouse and up to three dependents.

The Central and State Governments are paying the premium to the healthcare providers (insurance companies) being selected by the State Government. The contract has been given to United Insurance and they have to install machines at selected hospitals where the BPL families will get cash less hospitalization through Insurance Company.

The Central Government is providing 90 percent contribution for the scheme while state has to pay only 10 percent.

The selection of the two districts in the state was part of pilot project and later it was scheduled to be implemented in other parts of the state within a year. But not a single smart card has been issued to the BPL families in Srinagar district.

The scheme was started 7 years ago in other states of the country but Jammu and Kashmir was left out. One of the reasons is that it comes under the mandate of the Labour and Employment Department and other is that there was no BPL data with the Government.

And now when the two issues were resolved lack of will on part of the Health Department is affecting the implementation of the project in Srinagar and rest of the state.

Introduce horticulture crop insurance in J and K

MLA, M. Y. Tarigami has underscored the need for linking production with marketing channels adding that this was imperative to achieve dividents of increase in the fruit production.

Raising a supplementary to a question of Abdul Rehman Veeri in the Legislative Assembly today, Tarigami said though fruit production in the State has increased many folds but unless this production is linked to marketing, the benefits of the increase in production were not possible.

Tarigami said Horticulture is the major component of State’s economy adding that there was dire need for developing basic infrastructure for pre and post Harvest Management in this sector. He specifically urged for developing Grading and Packaging units and establishing cold chain to increase shelf life of the fruits so that it reaches to the terminal markets of the country in fresh condition. These facilities would enable fruit growers to fetch better remuneration of their produce, Tarigami added. Tarigami also urged for introducing crop insurance scheme to protect the fruit grower against the losses due to natural calamities including hailstorms and drought.

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Bajaj Allianz launchs ULIP

Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance has launched a new unit-linked plan- Guaranteed Maturity Insurance Plan (GMIP)- that provides at maturity at least 200% of the amount invested along with a secure life cover.

With the minimum single premium as low as ` 5000, the product is the lowest single premium ULIP available in India, thereby making the product affordable for all income segments.

Zonal Manager North-2, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, Ashwani Sharma, said, "People in City like Jammu and its adjoining rural areas rarely get a chance to invest in ULIPs due to the high premium sizes. Thus, in order to reach out to those segments, Bajaj Allianz has come up with "Guaranteed Maturity Insurance Plan" which provides a guaranteed maturity benefit of at least double the premium paid".

GMIP is simple to understand plan in which single premium invested will be kept in denomination of ` 5000 each called as "Guaranteed Maturity Certificates (GMCs)". The provision of GMCs facilitates liquidity and preserves guarantee since partial withdrawals can be made only in units of GMC, that is, in multiples of ` 5000. Thus, the investor will not have to compromise on the guarantee of other GMCs which he or she will hold till maturity.

The plan does not have any allocation charge and 100% of the single premium paid by the policy holder goes in to the unit account; Flexibility of partial withdrawal after five years; and Life cover throughout the term of 10 years.

Key benefits of GMIP included Income Tax benefit under Section 80-C; Partial withdrawal any time after 5th policy year; Higher of Guaranteed Maturity Value of all the GMCs held at maturity or the fund value as on maturity date; and Higher of Prevailing Sum Assured reduced by the value of the units withdrawn through partial withdrawals from fund value in the last 2 years prior to death or fund value as on date of receipt of the intimation of death.

Employees to get Insurance Cover

Govt enters into agreement with Oriental company 4.5 lakh employees to get accidental insurance cover

In an important decision that would benefit over 4.5 lakh employees of the State Government, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), autonomous bodies including Local Bodies and Universities and all daily rated workers engaged before January 31, 1994, the Government today entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Oriental Insurance Company Limited for accidental death and disability insurance cover for the employees.

The MoU under ‘Group Janta Personal Accidental Insurance Policy’ for a period of three years was signed between the State Government and Oriental Insurance Company Limited few days back and would come into force from June 14, 2011. The MoU would be renewed at the end of each year.

Official sources said the agreement involved annual premium of Rs 90 only plus States taxes at the rate of Rs 9 per employee.

"The policy is compulsory for all categories of employees mentioned in the MoU and will secure them against accidental death and disabilities, partial or full’’, sources said.

In addition to about 4 lakh State Government and 30,000 PSU employees, the staff of autonomous bodies including Local Bodies and Universities and all daily rated workers, engaged by the Government Departments, PSUs and autonomous bodies on or before January 31, 1994 but who continued to work till date will be benefited out of the new scheme.

The employees would be covered for Rs 2.5 lakh in case of an accident. For disabilities, the insurance cover would vary as per percentage of the disability, sources said. The insurance company would pay the amount to nominees of the employee in case of their accidental death and to the employee himself/herself in case of disabilities.

Deduction of Rs 99 on account of insurance premium would be made by the Drawing and Disbursement Officers (DDOs) from the salaries of employees payable for the month of June 2011 and remitted to the Government treasury.

The Government has asked the DDOs of the Government Departments to furnish details of their employees in respect of whom the premium amount would be deducted and remitted to the Government account.

"It would be personal liability of DDOs/Managing Directors/CEOs/HoDs of concernedDepartment/Organisations to register every employee under this scheme with the Nodal Officer, Finance Department so that no employee is left out.

The Nodal Officer shall not be accepting any intimation of an accidental death or disability of any employee for processing insurance payments under the scheme unless full particulars are not made available in advance to him on or before 31st July, 2011.

"To ensure speedy settlement of insurance claims, intimations of accidental death or partial/permanent disabilities should be promptly sent to the Nodal Officer in the Finance Department directly by the concerned DD not later than 45 days from the date of accident’’, sources said.

They added that in the event of accidental death or permanent total disablement of an employee, as defined in the policy, M/s Oriental Insurance Company will, in addition to insurance cover as per the scheme, also be bearing one time education grant for the dependant children of the insured employee.

One dependent child below age of 25 years would get 10 per cent of capital sum insured subject to maximum of Rs 10,000 while more than one dependant child below age of 25 years would get 10 per cent of capital sum insured subject to maximum of Rs 20,000.

In the event of accidental death of an insured employee, Oriental Insurance Company would also be reimbursing the expenses incurred on transportation of the dead body of the deceased from the place of accident to his/her residence on actual basis or 2 per cent of the Capital Sum Insured (Rs 2.5 lakh), whichever is less.