The two major health insurance schemes in the State – Ayushman Bharat-Karunya Arogya Suraksha Padhati (KASP) and Medisep (the medical insurance scheme for State government employees and pensioners) – are headed for a fiscal disaster. With huge cost overruns, the sustainability of these schemes in the long run is in question.
The financial fallout of KASP is now pushing the State’s public sector hospitals, which are providing a chunk of the free medical care provided to the beneficiaries of the schemes, to the verge of collapse. The government owes over ₹600 cr to medical colleges and public hospitals as claims reimbursement arrears.
In the last two years, KASP has been bleeding the State finances dry, paying out ₹1,400 crore in claims settlement in 2021-22 and ₹1,630 crore in 2022-23, more than double the allocation in Budget at which the State had been running health insurance schemes till 2021.
