The National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) announced by the Centre in Budget 2018 could potentially become the centrepiece to achieve universal health coverage, once a few implementation issues are resolved. Therefore the health insurance programme needs to be designed with an understanding that those who pay a contribution will benefit from the government subsidy for health protection. This misconception has made health insurance schemes less popular. The MIUs are the ideal implementers as they can create the one-stop-shop delivering access to (health) insurance with a long-term presence at the grassroots level. David M. Dror is Chairman, Micro Insurance Academy, and former professor of health insurance, Erasmus University Rotterdam and former senior social protection specialist, ILO.

Source: The Hindu April 21, 2018 18:33 UTC