'18% population of urban area covered under health insurance'

As per the latest data there are only 18 percent of people in urban areas of the country are covered under any kind of health insurance scheme, the government said today.

"As per latest data report of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on Health and Morbidity known as 'Social Consumption on Health' conducted during NSS 71st round (January - June 2014)...

"...percentage of persons having covered under any health insurance scheme is 14.1 percent in rural areas and 18.1 percent in urban areas," Health Minister J P Nadda said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He said that according to information received from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI), 28.80 crore people were covered under health insurance policies provided by public sector and private sector during 2014-15 (including government sponsored schemes like RSBY) which is 24 percent of India's total population.

He said that Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) is a centrally sponsored scheme to provide health insurance to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families and 11 other defined categories of unorganized workers namely building and other construction workers, licensed railway porters, street vendors, MGNREGA workers (who have worked for more than fifteen days during preceding financial year) amongst others.

Beneficiaries enrolled under RSBY are entitled for health insurance coverage of Rs 30,000 per annum to families (a unit of five) on floater basis in government empaneled hospitals (includes both private and public), he said.

He said that under RSBY, 41258510 cards were active for financial year 2015-16 while 1596862 hospitalisations have taken place in the same year period.