Page 12 - Insurance Times September 2019

2 held for health insur- Punjab govt rolls out universal health insurance plan
ance scam in Delhi With an aim of ensuring 'Health for All,' the Punjab Government has recently
launched 'Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana'
Two women have been recently ar- (SSBY), covering more than 85% of the
rested by population.
Delhi po-
lice for al- The launch of the scheme was marked by
leg e d ly Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh
duping by distributing first 10 beneficiaries cards
more than 350 people with false simultaneously at 22 District Headquar-
promise of providing them health ters. The scheme turned out to be one of
insurance at a low premium. the finest Medical Insurance Cover to the masses, where almost 46 lakhs fami-
lies are to be covered for 5 lakh rupees cashless Medical Cover.
In accordance with the police, the
arrested have been identified as The scheme has been termed as path breaking scheme by Health Systems Cor-
Suman Lata (34) and Jyoti (33). Po- poration Chairman Amardeep Singh Cheema, where Universal coverage is given
lice have arrested from west Delhi's to citizen, whereas the Centre's scheme was only covering the SECC (Socio Eco-
Vikaspuri area. nomic Cast Census) data beneficiaries, which is around 14 lakhs families in
Punjab.
The accused revealed during the
However, the state government extended this cover to more than 46 Lakh fami-
probe that they were procuring da-
tabase of customers from employ- lies as beneficiaries in all empanelled public and private hospitals.
ees of call centres after paying 5 Mr Cheema said the government is committed to the welfare of the residents,
paise to 50 paise per contact, the with free Blood Testing, Dialysis facilities, blood transfusion etc. almost all fa-
police said. cilities are free of cost in the government run Civil hospitals, which really take
care of the daily expenditure of a common man, where major part of expanses
According to Devender Arya, Deputy
of out of pocket are used only for medical services.
Commissioner of police (south-
west), Suman had failed to get a
good appraisal at her previous job 52% growth in health insurance claims for senior citi-
following which she decided to cre- zens: Bajaj Allianz General Insurance report
ate fake websites selling healthcare According to a data on claims released by Bajaj Allianz General Insurance, there
services in order to dupe them. has been a 52% increase in the number of

"She roped in her former colleague claims by people above 60 between 2016 to
Jyoti and started offering insurance 2019, whereas, the average claim size is in
at a low premium. During interroga- the range of Rs. 60,000 to Rs. 65,000. Across
tion, Suman revealed that she ap- the past 3 years, 60% of the total claimants
are males. The average age of claimants is 68
proached employees of several call
centers and procured data from years. There has been a 40% increase in the
number of senior citizens who have been
them in exchange for money," Arya
said. Police said she used to pay de- claiming from their individual health insurance policies. This is a welcome trend,
one that represents an increase in insurance penetration.
pending on the profile and details of
each contact. “Since ageing is inevitable and irreversible it is suggested that everyone starts
investing in a good health insurance policy at a younger age, so that any pre-
"If they got details of someone with
existing disease gets covered within the stipulated time frame,” said Bhaskar
a high income whose relative was Nerurkar, head of health claims at Bajaj Allianz General Insurance.
hospitalised, she would pay 50 paise.
“This is also the reason why we suggest everyone to get an individual health
For a middle-class contact, the price
was 30 paise," said a senior police of- insurance for themselves as a company sponsored GMC might be terminated
ficer. The police said she would also or may be inadequate post retirement. This World Senior Citizen Day, we wish
to see our senior citizens equipped with adequate amount of health insurance
pay 5 paise for the most basic details so that they continue contributing to community building, while their health
such as a contact number.
insurance takes care of any health related financial exigency,” he further added.
12 The Insurance Times, September 2019