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History of Health Insurance in India

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In today's times, health insurance is an absolute necessity in India. This is courtesy of the ever growing costs pertaining to treatment and diagnosis. We often invest a lot of money in homes, cars, property but rarely do we keep aside a chunk of money that goes towards healthcare. Medical health insurance can help you in this regard. It covers expenses like those pertaining to hospitalization, accident, dismemberment and even for other eventualities. Health Insurance is imperative in a country like India where a lot of road accidents happen.

History takes us back to the pre-Independence era of 1943, where the Health Survey and Development Committee, popularly known as the Bhore Committee came into existence in India. It had Sir Joseph Bhore as the Chairman who surveyed the existing state of health conditions and health organization in the country. He was bestowed with the duty of making recommendations for the development in healthcare opportunities for India. The committee, under the leadership of Sir Bhore, put forth comprehensive and precise proposals for the development of national provisions and programmes for health services in the country.

The history of health insurance in India goes back to 1952 when the Employees State Insurance Scheme came into existence. It was followed by the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) in 1954. The CGHS came into existence in New Delhi and is now operational in Allahabad, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Mumbai etc. It commenced under the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and upheld the objective of providing comprehensive medicare facilities to the employees of the Central Government. In addition to this, it also covered pensioners and their dependents residing in cities covered under CGHS.

The CGHS scheme has now been extended to many other categories of people residing in the covered cities. The new amendment includes members and ex-members of the Parliament, judges of the Supreme Court and the Higher Courts (sitting and retired), freedom fighters, accredited journalists, ex-Vice Presidents and ex-governors of India

On the other hand, the Employees' State Insurance was a medical health insurance scheme aimed at Indian workers. The ESI Act was enacted in 1948 but it came into force from 25th February 1952. It oversaw the provision of cash and medical benefits to the employees and their family. This was achieved through a large network of dispensaries, hospitals, branch offices etc. It was first established in New Delhi and Kanpur and was intended for workers who were employed in factories and companies only. It later went on to embrace all establishments having 10 or more workers, including educational institutions and hospitals etc. It presently covers 15.5 million employees.

Currently the industry is one of the most booming sectors in the Indian economy, courtesy the private companies such as Max Bupa that have forayed into the provision of healthcare related activities in India.

Source: http://bit.ly/1dUJLwD
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