Which is better: Aarogyasri or RSBY?

Following Table compares two schemes available to public for health insurance: one promoted by central government called RSBY and another offered only in AP by the State government. Senior Citizens Associations all over India have been urging the central government to offer Aarogyasri type of health insurance as it is better on many counts. See for yourself in this table.

Comparison between Rashtriya Bima Yojna [RSBY] & Rajeev Gandhi Aarogyasri Scheme

RSBY	Aarogyasri	Remarks Why Aarogyasri is better for senior citizens
23.4 lakh Smart cards (families) issued	2.3 crore families, 82%** population of AP covered . Figures for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra not available
BPL families – five members only per family on floater basis covered	BPL families – no limit on number of persons in a family– floater basis	Very significant from Senior citizens point of view. Grand Parents can be left out in case of a family with 3 children
Pre existing diseases are covered	Pre existing diseases are covered
Coverage: Rs 30000	Coverage: 1.5 Lakhs; up to 2.00 lakhs in special cases	Coverage is ideal and decent
OPD not covered	OPD covered. Follow up for one year after a major surgery	No provision in RSBY
Only few medical procedures which can be conducted in Rs. 30,000/- covered	942 medical procedures are covered including all major surgeries eg Open Heart and cancer related surgeries	Major advantage in Aarogyasri
Financial burden on State is higher inspite of very low coverage being Rs 500/- 850/- per family	Financial burden on State is less being only Rs 532/- per family of 4	Major advantage in Aarogyasri
	The disease load is progressively coming down. Initially it was Rs 380 for 330 procedures, now it is 532/- for 942 procedures	It is coming down because of better inbuilt controls and elaborate pre-screening of population and also follow up for one year after hospitalisation. These steps are not included in RSBY
Some States prefer RSBY because Central Govt pays 75% of expenses	Entire expenses are borne by the State. No Central Government grant
Sr Citizens living alone are considered as a family unit	Sr Citizens living alone are considered as a family unit	Same in both cases
	Very robust IT infrastructure	Does not exist in RSBY

** Though Aarogyasri scheme is meant to provide Health Security to BPL category, yet 82% population is covered under it because of very liberal definition of BPL.