NEW DELHI, India — India on Sunday launched the world’s biggest health insurance scheme which Prime Minister Narendra Modi said would cover some 500 million poor people. The program, dubbed “Modicare,” promises health cover worth 500,000 rupees ($6,900) to every poor family to treat serious ailments. ADVERTISEMENTThe scheme is expected to cost the central and 29 state governments $1.6 billion per year in total. He called the scheme “a big step towards providing good quality and accessible healthcare to the poor of India. “Modicare does not extend to primary healthcare, which, we believe, is the weakest link in the provision of public health in India,” Rajiv Lall and Vivek Dehejia of the IDFC Institute think-tank said in a column for the Mint newspaper.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer September 23, 2018 09:45 UTC