The last date to fill the form under the Journalist Group Health Insurance Scheme has been fixed as October 10, 2018. Journalists who have been insured since earlier are required to submit applications till September 25, 2018, to get their policy activated from October 1, 2018, otherwise their policy will come into effect after the last date ie October 10, 2018. Individual Health Insurance of Rs 2 lakh or 4 lakh can be taken. Under the health insurance of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 4 lakh, the accident insurance cover is Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, respectively. Journalists aged between 21 to 70 years are entitled to take health insurance.
Journalists who have been insured since earlier can take insurance up to the age of 80 years. Moreover, the journalists of Madhya Pradesh domicile, who are working in New Delhi are also eligible under the scheme. The Minister for Public Relations Mishra has informed that insurance will be taken for one year. Seventy five percent of the insurance premium of journalists up to the age of 60 years and 85 percent insurance premium of journalists aged between 61 to 70 years will be paid by the Directorate of Public Relations. Husband, wife, children and parents can also be included under the scheme. All the diseases mentioned in the insurance scheme since earlier will be included in it.
The state government has taken a decision to include non-accredited journalists under the scheme too. The 50 per cent insurance premium will be paid by these journalists, whereas 50 per cent will be borne by the Public Relations Department. Under this category, 4 representatives each from daily news paper, 2 each of weekly/ fortnight/ monthly/news papers-magazine/electronic and web media are eligible for the scheme. The regular representatives of news papers-magazines, registered under the RNI are also eligible for the scheme. Cashless arrangement is made for treatment in the identified hospitals of the insurance company. The old insurance policy will expire on September 30. Forms for the Insurance Policy, Premium Table as well as other information can be downloaded from the website www.mpinfo.org of the Public Relations Department. It is essential to mention UTR number in the application after transferring the category wise fixed premium amount through NEFT in the account of the United India Insurance Company. The duly filled form is required to be sent to the Accreditation Branch of the Directorate of Public Relations only. There are separate forms for accredited and non-accredited journalists.