10 states may opt to establish trusts to implement government's healthcare scheme, says report

Around ten Indian states are likely to set up trusts for the implementation of central government’s flagship health protection scheme, said Indu Bhushan, CEO, Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission, as reported by The Economic Times. The model may be taken up by more states in the future, the report added.

The highly anticipated scheme announced by finance minister Arun Jaitley in the last budget speech, aims to provide health cover of up to Rs 5 lakh for 10 crore poor families.

As per the report, the CEO said that Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Sikkim are the states that have expressed in following a trust model, while Himachal Pradesh too has expressed interest.

Bhushan also added that union territories too are likely to opt in favor of following the method while eight states including Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and Kerala may implement the scheme through a mixture of insurance and trust.

In the trust model, the State governments will sets up a trust to perform the role of an insurance company, whereas in the insurance model, they will float a tender and the insurance company is selected based on the ensuing bidding process.