India News | Himcare to Continue, Ayushman Expansion Will Be Sought: Himachal Dy CM Mukesh Agnihotri

Shimla, Aug 8 (PTI) There is no intention to close Himcare Yojna in Himachal Pradesh but the loopholes in the scheme must be plugged, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri said on Thursday.

Under the Himcare scheme, cashless treatment coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per year per family is being provided by the state .

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Agnihotri was chairing the first meeting of the cabinet sub-committee constituted to look into the anomalies which came to the fore in the Himcare scheme and the centrally-aided Ayushman Bharat Yojna.

He said the scheme started in the previous BJP regime had lots of loopholes pertaining to reimbursement of claims, but the scheme will stay.

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"There is no intention of closing Himcare Yojna in the State and it will continue but the loopholes in the scheme need to be plugged," he said.

He said that many instances have come to notice where the amount of medical bills and that of treatment differed, with the claimed amount being on a way higher side.

The committee will look into all aspects of the scheme to plug the pilferage, Agnihotri said.

He informed those in the meeting that the state had a liability of Rs 457 crore, of which Rs 150 crore was owed to the private hospitals and around Rs 307 crore to the government ones.

As far as the Ayushman Bharat scheme is concerned, the minister said the cap, which allows medical coverage to 5.32 families, leaves out as many as 14.83 lakh families from the ambit of the scheme.

He said the matter will be raised with Union Health Minister J P Nadda and removal of these restrictions and coverage of the entire state population under the scheme will be sought.

On funding under the Ayushman Bharat, the state government was receiving only Rs 50 crore per annum from the Centre as a fixed amount, Agnihotri said

The funding received from the Centre was spent within the first six months and the entire burden now rests on the state to bear the excess cost, which is likely to cross over Rs 100 crore at the end of this fiscal, he said.

The committee also decided to take up the issue of funding with the Union Health Ministry, the statement said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)