CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu will raise the annual health insurance cover under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 25 lakh per family, a fivefold increase that officials said would benefit 1.45 crore families statewide.Chief minister C Joseph Vijay, who made a suo motu announcement in the assembly on Wednesday, said the expanded scheme would also extend transgender medical and surgical services to seven govt medical college hospitals, including Stanley Medical College in Chennai and hospitals attached to medical colleges in Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Chengalpet, Thiruvarur, Dharmapuri and Kanyakumari.Under the existing scheme, 1.45 crore families get Rs 5 lakh coverage a year per family, while high-cost procedures such as cochlear implants and organ transplants were funded separately, up to Rs 23 lakh, through a state corpus fund. “If one member has spent the insurance coverage, others have to wait or pay out-of-pocket for treatment,” health minister K G Arunraj said.“In most families, more than one member has chronic ailments. An increase in coverage will help more members seek treatment simultaneously or at any time within the same year,” he said.The revamped scheme will also widen the list of covered ailments and treatments, including newer high-end chemotherapy drugs for cancer, and the price ceiling per treatment package will also rise.The changes are expected to increase the govt’s premium outlay, though the exact structure has not been finalized. “We are still working that out. We may either close the corpus funds altogether or bring treatments for renal disease, cardiac disease and cancer under a new corpus,” an official said.The state at present pays an annual premium of Rs 849 per family to the insurer, United India Insurance Company, for the existing Rs 5 lakh cover, at a total cost of more than Rs 1,237 crore for the ongoing policy. Officials said the govt would now negotiate with insurance companies to revise premiums in line with the expanded coverage, though final figures have not been settled.As part of the overhaul, the state will move members aged 70 and above out of the existing scheme into a separate geriatric insurance programme. On Monday, Arunraj had announced the Chief Minister’s Elderly Health Insurance Scheme, which will offer free, cashless treatment to nearly 38 lakh residents aged 70 and above with no income ceiling, which will be dovetailed with Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. A govt order formalizing the expanded scheme is expected to be issued soon, officials said.
