Hyderabad, May 14: The state government is planning to extend Arogyasri scheme to pensioners and government employees, chief executive officer of Arogyasri Trust Babu said at a seminar on ‘Health insurance for senior citizens’ organised by the HelpAge India here on Friday.
Out of the one million people who were treated under Arogyasri in the last four years, 1.05 lakh were senior citizens, he said.
Efforts have been made to clear the claims of each hospital in 24 hours instead of the earlier seven days.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) chairman J Harinarayana said that nearly 8.3 per cent of the total policies sold in India were taken by senior citizens.
The members who participated in the seminar said that senior citizens constitute 23 per cent of India’s population. But most of them do not have health insurance.
With the promotion of medical tourism by the government, healthcare will become more expensive and common man will not be in a position to afford it, he said.
–Agencies