A huge sum of money running to thousands of crore was paid to insurance companies as premium amount under various insurance-based health model, claimed the state’s health department.
It said the amount could be now used for improving the health infrastructure in Chhattisgarh.
As per information received from the state health department Rs 2,379.82 crore was paid to five big insurance companies between 2009 and 2019.
Data revealed that the money was paid to Oriental Insurance Company Ltd, Tata AIG General Insurance Company Ltd, The New India Assurance Co. Ltd, United India and Religare Health Insurance Company Limited.
“One of the reasons behind introducing trust-based health care model in Chhattisgarh was the hefty amount paid to insurance companies,” Chhattisgarh health minister TS Singhdeo told The Pioneer.
The money that was paid to private companies can be now invested in providing state of the art health facilities at government hospitals. This will benefit the financially weaker sections, Singhdeo opined.
According to health department officials, under the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) between September 2009 and April 2011, Rs 63.80 crore was paid to Oriental Insurance and Tata AIG.
Likewise, from Sept 2010 to July 2015 under the RSBY Oriental Insurance Company was paid Rs 497.86 crore. It also covered premiums of Mukhyamantri Swasthya Beema Yojana (MSBY) between 2014 and 2016.
In the same way New India Insurance company got Rs 263.68 crore between January 2015 and January 2016 under the RSBY and MSBY.
According to health department officials, initially the premium of insurance companies was not much but soon it doubled and tripled.
They also informed that apart from Chhattisgarh there as about half a dozen states in India that follow the trust-based health care system.
They further said that United India Insurance was paid premium of Rs 771.34 crore between January 2017 and September 2018. In the same way Religare Health received Rs 783.14 crore under the MSBY and Ayushman Bharat Yojana.
