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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Did you know? | You can help your household staff get a health insurance policy
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Did you know? | You can help your household staff get a health insurance policy

Did you know? | You can help your household staff get a health insurance policy

Premium

With the government extending the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY)—which was initially a health insurance plan for people below poverty line (BPL)—your household staff can now get a health cover with a little non-financial help from you. According to government estimates, there are about 4.75 million domestic helpers in the country.

How you can help

You just need to vouch for the person for whom you want a cover. Belonging to the unorganized sector, individuals who work in your household usually do not have any form of social security in the absence of any formal document proving their identity.

Under RSBY, your household staff wanting a health policy will need to get identification from any two of the four eligible sources—employer, residents’ welfare association, registered trade union or the local police.

What’s the cover

Currently, the sum insured under RSBY is Rs30,000. Individuals can get an insurance cover on hospitalization and day-care procedures for up to Rs30,000 in a year. In fact an individual can also extend the benefit to up to five members of a family, including spouse and three dependants. In addition to this, pre-existing conditions are covered from day one. The age limit for eligibility is 18-59 years. Individuals will get a smart card that will help them get cashless treatment in empanelled hospitals.

Who pays

Individuals who want to subscribe to this scheme will have to pay Rs30 as registration charges. They needn’t pay any premium since the government will bear that on their behalf. The premium will be shared between the Central and the state governments in the ratio of 75:25; the ratio is 90:10 in case of Jammu and Kashmir and the north-east region.

So for a sum insured of Rs30,000, the premium will be about Rs750. Of this, the Central government will pay 75% of the cost, which comes to a maximum of Rs565 per family per annum. The cost of smart card which comes to about Rs60 will also be borne by the Central government. The state governments will foot the rest of the premium as well as any additional premium in cases where the total premium exceeds Rs750.

Currently the government is expecting to cover about 10% of the domestic staff population.

—Deepti Bhaskaran

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Published: 26 Jun 2011, 09:58 PM IST
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