HYDERABAD: Days after making a decline in farm laws, the TRS Government has made another U-turn by accepting the Ayushman Bharat outline and looking to link it with the state Aarogyasri Health Plan.
Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar reported Prime Minister Narendra Modi that prime minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has made the decision to unite Aarogyasri with Ayushman Bharat in a video conference held by the prime minister with the chief secretaries of all the states on Wednesday.
This sudden change in the position of the state is in stark contrast to its previous position. Telangana it was one of the few states in the country that refused to join the Ayushman Bharat scheme of the Modi government. The CM had praised Aarogyasri on the assembly floor while making comparisons with Ayushman Bharat and, on several occasions, had projected the central outline in low light. His cabinet colleagues, Eatala Rajender and KT Rama Rao – had also tried to call Ayushman Bharat after Aarogyasri’s poor cousin.
During a high-level meeting in Raj Bhavan a year ago, health officials from the state and central governments discussed the possibility of uniting Ayushman Bharat and Aarogyasri for the benefit of the people of Telangana.
The latest decision comes shortly after the KCR government decided to eliminate regulated agriculture and close shopping centers in the villages. Opposition parties even said the decision indirectly supports the three agricultural laws put forward by the Center against which farmers have been protesting nationwide for more than a month.
Health officials had previously said that Aarogyasri provides coverage for 949 different treatment modalities for patients. The plan provides insurance coverage to each family from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 13 lakh and in some specialized therapies, there are no limits on the cost of treatment.
In contrast, Ayushman Bharat plans to extend coverage to families with an insurance coverage limit of Rs 5 lakhs. Ayushman Bharat has based its selection of beneficiaries on data from the socioeconomic census of castes both in urban and rural areas.
.
