Now all bank employees, working or retired, have reason to cheer as they will be provided a medical insurance soon by State-owned general insurers, covering a range of treatments, including major surgeries, at a very affordable yearly premium.
State-run general insurers have decided to issue a Master Mediclaim policy for bank employees through Indian Banks Association (IBA) by August end.
“As per the new wage agreement between bank unions and IBA on May 25, general insurers have agreed that employees of all member-banks will be provided with a health cover by their respective banks by this month end,” a senior IBA official told The Pioneer on Thursday.
“The IBA is currently busy collecting data of bank employees from its member banks for the scheme and we have already got information from over 19 banks so far. We are still waiting for complete data from other banks too. We will prepare a database of all employees of our member banks before issuing the Master Mediclaim policy for them,” added the official.
As per the IBA data, there are 43 banks - private, foreign and public sector banks - which are members of the association, comprising 25 State-owned banks, 11 old-generation private sector banks and seven foreign banks with over 10 lakh employees and three lakh retirees, who would benefit from the scheme.
Confirming the development, All-India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) vice-president Vishwas Utagi said, “At the time of signing of the tenth bipartite agreement between United Forum of Bank Unions and IBA, both parties had agreed to implement a health insurance scheme in form of reimbursement of all expenses on hospitalisation upto Rs 5 lakh, which includes all dependents and family members of the bank employee.”