Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme

The third part of the Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme or MHIS will be launched in April 2017. The scheme has been in operation in some form since December 2012 with the support of ICICI Lombard.

The third phase of the scheme will entail more facilities offering support. It will include a greater amount of coverage around the state. This is to improve upon how people around the state can be properly covered for all sorts of healthcare needs.

Technical bids will be opened for the scheme on 11^th January. Financial bids from insurance companies will be brought in a few days after this.

MHIS is currently covering about half of the state population. The totals will go up substantially as the third phase gets into effect. This means that it is not necessarily a universal coverage plan even though the scheme itself is officially listed as a Universal Health Insurance Scheme.

What Benefits Are There?

The MHIS plan will offer a number of essential benefits to those who qualify for it and have applied to take part:

A health cover of up to Rs. 2 lakh per year will be given to each person who qualifies. This cover can be claimed while one is in a hospital.
Various hospitals and other medical facilities will support this system. People can visit the MHIS website at mhis.nic.in to learn more.
Multiple family members will be able to participate in the program. The standards for who in the family is allowed to take advantage of the plan will be rather varied in terms of what may be offered or who can use it. There had been some limits at the start in terms of who was allowed to take advantage of the program.

Handling Claims

The third part of the scheme will also take care of the ongoing concerns about claims. These include claims that are not being handled by the insurance company. Claims that are not being provided are being referred by the scheme as being invalid and false in many cases. This next part of the scheme will help to manage how well different details will be utilized within the scheme.

Where Does the Money Come From?

The money for this scheme is coming from the government’s budget. It will also come from the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana for BPL families.

All funds will be paid out to insurance companies. These companies will provide coverage to the public. This will be offered in association with the support of the national government.

The money for the scheme will help with covering many of the expenses that people may bear with. This is especially important with regards to how the government is able to run the scheme properly.

How Successful Has This Been?

The scheme has worked quite well for a variety of people who have been looking for help. The scheme stage of the program in particular proved to be rather effective. It had run up until 31 July 2016 but it was extended for three months. About 3.5 lakh beneficiaries were able to take advantage of the program. This number will certainly increase in total as the number of beneficiaries that can qualify for it increases.

There were claims on the scheme from a little more than 70,000 households during that past stage. The claims were about Rs. 47 crore in value.

Also, the scheme covered 210 hospitals with 109 primary health care centres and 59 private hospitals. The expansion of the scheme will help to add to the number of hospitals that will utilize this although it is unclear as to what the full final number will be.

The MHIS plan will help with giving people added access to medical and health services. People who are looking to take advantage of this scheme should check with the government to see how they can qualify for it and what may be available for their use as needed.