Question : Health Insurance Scheme

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

(a) whether the public and private insurance companies do not provide health insurance cover to senior citizens in the country and if so, the details thereof;
(b) whether the Government proposes to cover each family in the country under the health insurance scheme on socio/ economic basis and if so, the details thereof;
(c) the number of persons benefited by the various health insurance schemes being run by the general insurance companies operating in the country during the last three years, company and State/UT-wise; and
(d) the various steps taken/being taken by the Government to extend the health insurance net and spread awareness in the country?

THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE


(a) to (d): As per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), insurance companies do provide health insurance cover to Senior Citizens. Health Insurance Regulations, 2013 issued by IRDAI enable protection of the interests of the Senior Citizens. They stipulate that entry age of all citizens (including Senior Citizens) for the purpose of insurance shall be at least up to 65 years. They also stipulate that renewal shall not be denied based on the age of any person including senior citizens. Therefore, where a person has taken health insurance policy before he/she attains age 65 years, renewal of such policy shall not be denied based on age.

Further, the Public Sector General Insurance Companies (PSGICs) have specially designed policies for senior citizens at the entry level in the age bracket of 60 to 80 years namely “Varistha Mediclaim Policy” by National Insurance Company Ltd, “Health of Privileged Elders (HOPE)” by The Oriental Insurance Company Ltd., “Senior Citizens’ Mediclaim Policy” by the New India Assurance Company Ltd. and “Mediclaim Policy- Senior Citizens” by United India Insurance Company Ltd. There is no age limit for renewals of these policies.
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is being implemented by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. This scheme provides smart card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30000/- per annum to BPL families along with 11 other categories of unorganized workers i.e. Building and other construction workers, licensed Railway porters, Street Vendors, MGNREGA workers, Beedi workers, Domestic workers, Sanitations workers, Mine Workers, Rickshaw pullers, Rag pickers and Auto/Taxi drivers.
For Senior Citizens of age 60 years and above, Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS) with additional top-up package up to Rs. 30,000 is under implementation with effect from 01.04.2016.
As per Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), the details of number of persons covered under various health insurance schemes, including RSBY for last three years are given in Annexure 1, 2 and 3.
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