The Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) has written to the CEO of NDA government’s massive new health insurance programme, Ayushman Bharat. Indicating towards their unwillingness to participate in the scheme, he AHPI said that the scheme’s proposed reimbursement package rates are unscientific, arbitrary and insufficient.
AHPI represents about 3,000 private healthcare institutions. “It appears that overall, no scientific basis has been applied to arrive at the rates,” says a letter recently written by the Association of Healthcare Providers India (AHPI) to the CEO of Ayushman Bharat.
While signalling towards their unwillingness to participate in the scheme, it also said that the scheme would turn out to be ineffective on the ground if it fails to attract participants. “The participation of healthcare providers would be sparse and the Ayushman Bharat will remain grossly ineffective on the ground,” the letter read.
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The Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Scheme (AB-NHPS) was announced in the annual budget in February, in which an insurance coverage of Rs. 5 lakh per family was promised to about 10 crore of the poorest families. However, a comparative on the cost of medical procedures incurred by private hospitals verus what the government reimburses via the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) showed that the rates were much lower than what private hospitals had to bear.
Ayushman Bharat rates were already revised once after it faced criticism from the private sector, but it still fails to meet the expectations of the private sector.
It’s easy to make promises but difficult to fulfil it. Who knows it better than the BJP who makes big promises but is nowhere to be found when the time of their execution come.