Privat Insurance companies to be part of MSBY

The State health department is now planning to include private insurance companies in the process of tender for ambitious universal health scheme, the Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana (MSBY). For the last few months, the department is not able to select the insurance company for the comprehensive health insurance scheme. It is learnt that the health department sensed that the Public Sector Insurance Companies have made a sort of cartel and are quoting inflated premiums for the scheme.

The In-charge of the scheme and Director (administration), Dr Prem Lal told The Pioneer that the department has prepared a proposal to include the private general insurance companies in the process of the tender and sent it to the Government.

“It is being done to make the process of bidding more competitive and we hope that it will be beneficial for the Government as premium amount quoted could go down by involvement of more players in the tender process,’’ he said.  Interestingly the department had earlier adopted the policy of including only public sector insurance companies for the scheme but now it has changed its mind.

The new tender process could start once the approval from Government is received on it.

The department handed over the task of providing insurance cover to 10,74,000 families of the State last year to United India Insurance Company.

The company provided a cover of Rs. 50,000 per family per year for 1,514 listed disease at a premium of Rs168 for first six months. The department floated fresh tenders this year on an increased annual cover of Rs1.75 lakhs in which National Insurance Company quoted the least annual premium of Rs440.

However the department did not handed over the scheme to it in view of its dubious record in Uttar Pradesh. Later the tenders were again invited and this time quotation of United India Insurance Company with a premium of Rs1,101 was lowest. The then Health minister, Surendra Singh Negi objected to the high bid amount on the ground that the same company had quoted an amount of Rs873 in the previous tender. The recent political upheaval ensured that the decision on the important scheme was put on back burner. Now the department appears to have broken its slumber and taken a policy decision to include private insurance companies in the process of tenders.

MSBY is flagship social welfare scheme of former Chief Minister Harish Rawat and was implemented from April 01, 2015.  All the residents of the state barring those giving income tax and serving and retired Government employees were put under the purview of the scheme.

The scheme was mired in many controversies like inclusion of non eligible people, issuance of MSBY cards to dead persons, non cooperation of paneled hospitals and non disbursal of money from the insurance company to the hospitals and inflated premium demanded by the insurer.