Now all bank employees, be retired or working ones, have a reason to cheer as they will be provided with a master mediclaim soon by State-owned general insurers, covering a range of treatments, including minor and major surgeries at the cost of very affordable premium to be paid per year. 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 the IBA on May 25, general insurers have agreed that the 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 collected data from over 19 banks so far. We are still waiting for the complete data to come soon from other banks too. We will prepare a data base 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 7 foreign banks with over 10 lakh employees and 3 lakh retirees, who can benefit the same scheme.
Confirming the development, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) Vice President Vishwas Utagi said, "At the time of signing of tenth bipartite agreement between United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) and Indian Banks Association (IBA), both parties had agreed to implement a health insurance scheme in form of reimbursement of all expenses on hospitalisation upto Rs5 lakh, which include all dependent and family members of the bank employee."
However, New India Assurance Chairman and Managing Director and Chairman of General Insurers (Public Sector) Association (GIPSA) Chairman G Srinivasan recently said without divulging the details about the scheme, "This is for the first time a proper health insurance policy is being worked out by banks for their employees. Our discussions are on with the IBA on the health insurance cover for bank employees as part of the wage pact and things are still on the drawing board."
It is learnt that Chennai-based United India Insurance is the lead insurer for the scheme. "We have made United India Insurance as the lead insurer while the other three will act as co-insurers in this case and we have decided to provide health insurance cover with a ceiling of Rs3 lakh in case of workmen and Rs4 lakh in case of bank officers," the IBA official said.
"The premium to be paid by banks will be around Rs5,000-Rs6,000 per annum, depending upon their existing position in the banks," he added.
At present, the medical aid is covered in the 15 per cent wage hike, and the new health scheme will ensure 100 per cent reimbursement in case of hospitalisation of any employee of the bank.