Punjab to roll out universal health insurance scheme from July

The Punjab government will launch its flagship universal health insurance scheme -Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana' (SSBY), from July. The scheme will provide an annual health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family. Around 43.18 lakh families in Punjab will be covered under it. 

Besides all government hospitals, 364 private hospitals in Punjab had been empanelled, where the beneficiaries would get the secondary and tertiary care, state Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu said in an official release Thursday. 
The beneficiaries included the 14.86 lakh families covered under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) in the state, the minister said. 

He said the state government had already prepared a database of 43.18 lakh beneficiaries. 

Sidhu said the cost of the premium for the families covered under the PMJAY would be borne by the Centre and the state government in the 60:40 ratio while for the rest of the beneficiaries, it would borne by the state government.