The State Government is contemplating to provide the benefit of comprehensive and revised U-health card system to all its employees from August 15 this year. Different employee organisations are demanding for long that the comprehensive health insurance cover, the U-health card should be made more attractive and all employees should be covered under it. On Thursday, a delegation of joint forum of employees met the Secretary health and family welfare Nitesh Jha and discussed the scheme. Jha assured the delegation that the revised U-health card scheme would be launched on August 15 this year.
The U-health card scheme though operational at present is optional and not very attractive. The employee organisation want the scheme should cover Out Patient Department (OPD) and efforts should be made to bring all hospitals into its panel. They want that the representatives of the employees should be included in the steering committee of the U-health card scheme.
To provide the benefit of cashless health insurance to its employees and pensioners the state government launched the U -healthcard scheme on October 25, 2010. The scheme was made optional for the employees but mismanagement and delay in payment ensured that both the employees and the hospitals preferred to keep a distance from this scheme. At present there are only eleven hospitals in the state and two located in National Capital Region (NCR) that are in the panel of the scheme (Medanta Medicity Gurgaon and National Heart Institute New Delhi).
Under the optional scheme an annual premium of Rs 5000 is charged from the employee having grade pay in excess of Rs 6600 while those getting a grade pay of Rs 4200 to Rs 5400 a sum of Rs 3500 is charged. The employees getting grade pay of Rs 1900 and 1800 pay Rs 1500 while those receiving less are liable to pay only Rs 700 per year.
The pensioners are also accorded the benefit of the scheme. Under the U health card, the cardholders and their families are accorded unlimited cashless medical reimbursement in the empanelled hospitals.
The employees are now hoping that the revised scheme would ensure that maximum number of private hospitals are in the scheme.