Today in India many people who are below the poverty line cannot afford the money for their treatment, which results as more number of death. Their poverty now has become one of the causes of death. These poor people cannot afford the good and specialized hospitals as the fees and the money required for the treatment is so high that they think it is good for them to die with disease due to which they lose hope.
For these kinds of people, the government has taken various steps to solve the problem of poorer people. This now becomes one of the aims of the government to provide the facilities which they cannot afford for the treatment. One of the schemes for these people is Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY). This Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana has given many benefits to the poorer people.
What Is RSBY?
- It is a health insurance scheme provided by the government for those people who come under below poverty line.
- The main aim of this scheme is to provide all the necessary facilities and finance to the pooper people who can’t afford the medical treatment so that they can achieve good health.
- The government of India has started this scheme in 2008 and targeted to those people who come under below poverty line (BPL).
Who is Eligible For RSBY?
A person who comes under BPL and government has also included the people who come under unorganized workers like
- Building and other construction workers who are registered with the welfare board
- Licensed railway porters
- Street vendors
- MNREGA workers who have worked more than 15 days during the financial year
- Beedi workers
- Domestic workers
- Sanitation workers
- Rickshaw pullers
- Mineworkers
- Rag pickers
- Auto/taxi drivers
These facilities are also given to their family members also. These facilities are only provided after full verification of the person to know whether he/she comes under below poverty line or not. After verification, these people are provided with the card through which they can use it for their treatment and take benefits.
There are no age limits for the family members. Anyone of any age can be a part of this scheme. But it is mostly said that only five members of the family are considered if there is any additional than outside coverage to verify that there is also the sixth member in the family.
Objectives Of RSBY
The two main objective of RBSY is as follows
- The first objective of RBSY is to provide all financial protection to the people who have sudden great damage or greater suffering by minimizing the cost of treatment.
- The second main objective of RBSY is to provide the good possibility of health care for those people who come under below poverty line by providing the expenses of the treatment and also by providing financial protection to those also who comes under unorganized sectors.
RSBY Scheme Details
This scheme includes all the medical treatment bills which are used for poor people for their treatment. The national government will pay the money who has registered for the insurance. The state governments along with the national government also help with the payment in the insurance for those who come under below poverty line. By this way, the government help the poor people for their treatment and for their hospitalization, also provide all the medical needs which are required for their health care.
How To Get RSBY Card?
To get this card one as to fulfill all the criteria which are required. This RBSY card is also called as Health smart card. People who want this card firstly they have to apply for the enrollment and get registered. The process for the get registered is as follows:-
- The head of the family (household) needs the identity card for the proof.
- He has to show the proof of status of his annual income and the status of his work which shows him that he comes in below the poverty line.
- For the enrollment and registration, every member’s photo and a fingerprint is required. This will include in the card. For this card, the person who is doing all this procedure needs to be very careful so that no mistake should be happening.
- A total charge of about rupees 30 is to be paid for per person in the family. This is a cost for their annual fees for the card which they have to pay once in a year. This is done just to verify personal identity and for the entire person living in that family.
- This enrollment center is present in all rural as well as urban areas. So one can easily get enrolled there. Every enrollment station has the list of the family members who have enrolled to verify that whether they come in below poverty line.
- The person can get started after the one month from being enrolled for the scheme.
- This is the only way to get and to start up with the card.
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Benefits
- For the person who has enrolled for the scheme, the government will provide about Rs 30,000 to each of the family for their health care. This means this is the sum total of the money which will be provided to the head of the family for his whole family treatment in a year. With this, there is an involvement of total insurance of the family members which including at least five members with other benefits which no other provides. This health insurance is provided with all the members who are qualified for the scheme for health insurance.
- A person holding this health smart card can go to any of the hospitals either private or government but the hospital should be in the list of the RSBY than only the person can take benefits. Through this people don’t have to migrate from place to place for the search of the hospital. But he has to search the hospital within the control limits so that it should be not so far from the place they are living. Otherwise, transport will take their so much of time and money is also wasted in transport.
- Other good news for poor people is that this insurance also includes their transportation charges. So that their own money should not get much wasted. The health insurance provide from Rs 100 up to Rs 1000 for their transportation at a time. So that they can reach hospital as early as possible to get started with the treatment.
- This scheme is only available in India and person who is eligible for the scheme can use this scheme from anywhere from India.
- A person who is having this health smart card just has to show this card to the hospital which has been participated in RSBY and through IT system these hospital gets the information of the person present in the card. The main step is to decode all the information which is present within the card so that one’s identity can be confirmed as soon as possible and the hospital can start with the treatment of the person. In case if there is a delay in the process of decoding the information through IT process than one can use the fingerprint for getting the information of the person.
- This smart card is the best way for the treatment as one has not to carry money for the treatment with them. It is a cashless and paperless process.
- No one other than the cardholder can use this card because there is fingerprint verification, so one can be free of being a threat by another person of any other company. It is safest and harmless way.
- With RSBY many other NGO’s MFIs and other third parties are also connected with it. They also provide with the health insurance. So it is additional profit for those people who are under this scheme. The target of these NGOs are to help the people who come under the below poverty line by providing money for their treatment from the government. These NGOs gives the insurance for the treatment so that they can start
- with the treatment and the state government provides the premium to the insurance provider for the insurance.
- As there are many hospitals list available under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana so the person has many choices for starting up with the treatment.
- The government provides up to 750 rupees for per person in each family members in a year for the treatment. So this helps the pooper people to gain with good quality of life by providing good health care.
- Today RSBY is having a large network of monitoring through all over India, which means that those who the operating with RSBY can see all the transaction of any person who is under this scheme to know from where the transaction has been made. This makes the person feel as surety for the usage of the card and for the as surety to the government that the money is not used as a wasted.
- This scheme also provides benefit to the person by giving the treatment for all those diseases also which the person already suffered. As this scheme covers all the pre-existing diseases with the disease for which the person is taking this benefit currently.
- Under this Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, the Karnataka state has a large number of hospital list provided for the poorer people for their treatment. This makes them easy to choose the good hospital for their proper treatment. Now a day’s Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana has a large number of hospital lists among the different state. So has not to move from here to there in order to get treated in the best hospital because this best hospital is been listed under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana hospital list. By providing this scheme poor people who belong to below poverty line has got the hope for the betterment of their life by having good health care.
For any other enquiry, one can call on the customer care/ helpline number- 1800-345-5384