Twenty States are on board to implement the Ayushman Bharat Scheme and have an MoU with the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) for the same, in New Delhi on Thursday.

States that are likely to go for the insurance model are Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura. Union Territories of Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli will also opt for the insurance model.

Those keen on adopting a trust model are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Lakshwadeep, Manipur, Puducherry, Telangana, Sikkim and Goa.

Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have expressed an interest to adopt the hybrid model. For example, for all payments under ₹50,000, Gujarat has proposed to opt for insurance payment and for anything above it has opted for trust-based payment. Uttar Pradesh is yet to decide on which model it wants to adopt.

West Bengal and Delhi chose to keep away from signing the MoU. CEO of Ayushman Bharat, Indu Bhushan, informed that the Centre will meet the Principal Secretary of Karnataka government to convince it to come on board. Punjab too chose not to attend the MoU-signing conclave. Meanwhile, Odisha will most likely not be a part of Ayushman Bharat as it wants to launch its own state-based scheme for health insurance.

Aspects of the mission, like operational guidelines, model tender document for selection of insurance companies and implementation support agencies for trusts were discussed at the conclave.

Bhushan urged the States that signed the MoU to seek approval and release Request for Proposal (RFP) for insurance company hiring (in case of insurance mode) or Implementation support agency (ISA) in case of trust mode implementation.

The scheme is expected to provide an annual health cover of ₹5 lakh for 10 crore families, 30 to 40 per cent of the beneficiaries of which will be from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar, Bhushan said.

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