State govt should ensure cashless treatment under NHIS: TNGEA

Many shortcomings of the past not addressed in renewed scheme

Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association (TNGEA) complained to the State government that it has not addressed the concerns in the New Health Insurance Scheme-2021 while renewing it. “We had appealed to the State government to have consultations with the government employees before renewing NHIS as the scheme had many shortcomings in the past. However, the government has renewed it with effect from July 1, 2021 without addressing any of issues we had raised,” said C.E. Kannan of TNGEA, Virudhunagar. Ever since NHIS came into existence, cashless treatment — an important aspect of health insurance scheme — had remained only on paper. “Even in the renewed scheme, there is no scope for preventing the hospitals, approved by the insurance company, from collecting advance money from patients during admission under the cashless treatment,” said S. Tamilselvi, State president of the association.