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.

IRDA asked to relax life cover norms for senior citizens- Insurance news-Insurance-Personal Finance-The Economic Times

IRDA asked to relax life cover norms for senior citizens- Insurance news-Insurance-Personal Finance-The Economic Times: "IRDA asked to relax life cover norms for senior citizens
31 Oct 2009, 0009 hrs IST, Preeti Kulkarni, ET Bureau

MUMBAI: The ministry of social justice and empowerment has asked the insurance regulator to direct non-life companies to relax entry barriers for
senior citizens seeking to buy health insurance and overseas mediclaim policies.

At a recent meeting of the National Council for Older Persons (NCOP), where an IRDA representative was present, IRDA was asked to facilitate health covers for older people. NCOP comes under the ministry of social justice and this meeting was attended by Mukul Wasnik, the Union minister in charge of the portfolio.

Currently, the IRDA guidelines prohibit health insurers from denying fresh mediclaim policies to individuals above 65-year-old. NCOP wants this age limit to be increased. The committee comprises the Union as well as state ministers for social justice and empowerment, senior ministry officials, representatives of state governments and some non-official members.

In addition to health insurance, the committee meeting focused on problems faced by senior citizens over 80-year-old in getting overseas mediclaim insurance, while travelling abroad. At present, many insurance companies are reluctant to provide this cover to senior citizens.

'The council also recommended providing insurance cover to senior citizens travelling overseas, irrespective of their age,' informed Mathew Cherian, chief executive of HelpAge India – an NGO focussed on welfare of the elderly whose representative attended the NCOP meeting.

The council also sought a status update from IRDA on the steps being taken to address the issues relating to senior citizens’ health polices. Widespread complaints from senior citizens on non-renewals and disproportionate hiking of premiums had prompted IRDA to tweak the rules on renewability in March this year.

The insurance regulator had asked insurers to ensure that renewals were not turned down, except on the grounds of fraud, moral hazard or misrepresentation. Furthermore, the companies had been asked to furnish a note explaining the reasons for increasing the premiums and also, how the rise was in line with the charge structure mentioned in the policy’s prospectus.

Another circular issued in May had directed insurance companies to specify in writing the reasons for denying health insurance to senior citizens. “Such reasons should stand scrutiny of reasonableness and fairness,” it stated.

In addition, the insurance regulator had instructed insurers to ensure that the premium charged to senior citizens was ‘fair, justified, transparent and duly disclosed upfront’. Despite IRDA’s measures, however, many senior citizens continue to complain of health insurers rejecting renewal requests and charging unreasonable premiums."