Govt extends MJPJAY till Oct-end
   Date :19-Aug-2020

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Staff Reporter ;
 
Citizens of Maharashtra are getting free health insurance under this scheme 
 
In a significant move, the Maharashtra Government, on Tuesday, has decided to extend the Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Aarogya Yojana (MJPJAY) for three months to provide free health insurance to every citizen of the State. Under this scheme the Government has covered 12 crore people of the State and the patients infected by the coronavirus pandemic and others now can take benefit through MJPJAY. Patients can get treatment in all the empanelled hospitals across the state.
 
Earlier the scheme was applicable till July 31 which is now extended till October 31. Maharashtra is the first state that is providing free and cashless insurance protection to its people. According to the Government, 85 per cent of the state’s population was covered under the MJPJAY at present and the cover will be extended to the remaining 15 per cent soon. A memorandum was signed with General Insurance Public Sector Association (GIPSA) to include government, semi- government employees and white ration card holders in the scheme in a bid to prevent private hospitals from overcharging patients.
 
It will also cover Covid-19 patients at private hospitals. Similarly, different packages will be designed for all diseases, to standardise treatment fees at all hospitals. Earlier, 496 hospitals were covered in the scheme, but now over 1,000 hospitals will come under it. Hospitals that do not have tie-ups with the GIPSA will also have to standardise their treatment fees.
 
About 1,000 treatments at a cost of Rs 1.5 lakh per year are covered in empanelled hospitals under this scheme. While MJPJAY is based on ration cards, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY), unveiled in Maharashtra in September 2018, has beneficiaries identified on the basis of the Socio-Economic Caste Census, 2011. During the 2019-20 fiscal, the government’s outgo on the implementation of the scheme was Rs 1,700 crore, of which Rs 300 crore was the Government of India’s contribution. With today’s decision, the government will spend Rs 2,000 crore in this financial year.