Haryana Extends RSBY to Rag Pickers, Rickshaw Pullers, Taxi Drivers

The Haryana government has decided to bring rag pickers, miners, sanitary workers, rickshaw pullers and taxi drivers under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), which has been providing health insurance cover to economically weaker section of the society. Street vendors, domestic workers, beedi workers, MGNREGA workers and building and other construction workers have already been included in the scheme in Haryana.

According to a spokesperson at Health Department, this scheme will cover about 2, 16,000 additional people including 27,000 rickshaw-pullers, 23,000 rag pickers, 27,000 miners, 22,000 sanitary workers and about 72,000 auto rickshaw and taxi drivers. The total estimated financial burden on the exchequer will be around Rs 5.80 crore during the fiscal year, out of which Rs. 1.45 crore (25 percent) will be borne by the state government.

RSBY is a government-run health insurance scheme for below poverty line (BPL) people working in an unorganized sector. It provides smart card-based cashless hospitalization in public as well private hospitals up to Rs 30,000. As of February 2011, about 23 million families have been enrolled in 25 states.

Source: http://www.insuringindia.com/