The Karnataka government on Monday approved a scheme called Aarogya Bhagya to provide health insurance to all residents of the state from November 1. The insurance scheme, which will cost the state Rs 869 crore and be linked with Aadhaar, is aimed at providing free medical help to 1.4 crore households, Mint reported.
“There will be two categories of people under the card,” said Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister TB Jayachandra. Category A will be a “priority category” that will include “farmers, deprived households, labourers from the unorganised sector, pourakarmikas, all SC/ST people, members of cooperative societies, government employees, media persons and elected representatives”, and the remaining population will fall under Category B.
People under Category B will have to pay an annual premium on the insurance card – Rs 300 per person for people from rural areas and Rs 700 for those from urban places. All primary, secondary and emergency care will be free for people in both categories.
Corrections and clarifications: An earlier version of this story erroneously said that around 14 crore people are expected to benefit from the insurance scheme.
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