Cell Phone Users To Benefit With Healthcare Schemes By Paying Extra In Their Phone Bill

Building a corpus fund for a healthcare scheme is now easy. All you need to do is pay Rs. 20 extra in your mobile phone bill every month. This is what Devi Prasad Shetty, cardiac surgeon, who came up with the cheapest health insurance scheme (Yeshasvini) 12 years ago in Karnataka, wants good Samaritans to do."There are 900 million cellphone users in the country who, on an average, spend Rs 150 per month for usage. If each subscriber agrees to pay even Rs 20 per month, it will be a big-ticket contribution," he pointed out. With 100 subscribers, 93% will not avail the scheme as the need may not arise. The 7% will benefit, though. Shetty has already made a presentation to health and family welfare minister UT Khader and the scheme will have to be implemented in conjunction with the service providers.

The government's focus is on 'assurances' rather than 'insurance.'465 procedures are provided in empanelled hospitals through cashless transactions under three schemes launched by the government Vajpayee Arogyashree (BPL families), Rajiv Arogya Bhagya (APL families) and Jyothi Sanjeevini (Karnataka government employees), said officials.

Hospitals charged Rs 7,000 for treating dengue patients when the cost should be Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 even at an optimal profit. "The government is prepared to pay the difference, but corporate hospitals continue to charge exorbitant amounts," revealed sources.

Source-Medindia