Budget 2018: Jaitley's Rs 500,000 health scheme for 500 mn ahead of polls

Rs 12 bn proposed for free drugs and diagnostic tests, benefits to be provided through creation of 150,000 health and wellness centres

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday announced a flagship National Health Protection Scheme, which would provide health insurance cover of Rs 500,000 each to about 100 million poor families.

The new scheme, billed as the biggest government-funded health insurance programme, appears to be an extension of the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY), launched in 2008 to provide secondary care to people living below the poverty line. 

The benefit under the RSBY was restricted to Rs 30,000 per family, whereas the beneficiaries under the newly announced scheme may seek secondary and tertiary treatment up to Rs 500,000 in a year.

Jaitley said the scheme