AAP urges Goa govt to raise insurance coverage amount to Rs 10 lakh under state-run scheme

Panaji, Jul 8 (PTI) The Goa unit of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday demanded that the insurance cover under the state government's health scheme be increased from Rs 6 lakh to Rs 10 lakh for the benefit of citizens. It also said that more medical procedures should be included under the scheme. The Deen Dayal Swasthya Seva Yojana (DDSSY) is a flagship state-sponsored health insurance scheme of the Goa government, providing universal health coverage to residents who have lived in the state for at least five years. It guarantees cashless treatment across a wide network of empanelled hospitals. In a statement issued here, APP's Goa chief Valmiki Naik said healthcare was the right of every Goan. The state government should raise the amount of insurance coverage to Rs 10 lakh to ensure access to quality healthcare for every Goan family, he said. Naik compared Goa's DDSSY with the health insurance scheme implemented by the AAP government in Punjab, claiming that DDSSY covers only 447 medical procedures, while the AAP model provides coverage to around 2,350 procedures. He alleged that the limited coverage under DDSSY forces patients to seek treatment in private hospitals at their own expense. "Several private hospitals are reluctant to admit DDSSY beneficiaries due to delays in reimbursements and payments that are lower than the actual cost of treatment, resulting in patients bearing additional financial burden," he said. The AAP leader further claimed that the number of active DDSSY cards had declined from nearly 2.95 lakh to around 1.81 lakh, indicating that fewer people were finding value in the scheme. He said nearly 90 per cent of Goans depended on government healthcare facilities, but many public hospitals continued to face shortages of infrastructure, specialist doctors and essential medical equipment. Naik said primary health centres, sub-district hospitals and district hospitals required urgent upgrades to improve healthcare delivery in the state. He also wrote to Chief Minister Pramod Sawant seeking his time to discuss the issue. PTI RPS NP