AS the West Bengal government prepares to roll out the Ayushman Bharat scheme across the state, people covered under the local health policy — Swasthya Sathi — are also likely to be brought under the ambit of the Centre’s flagship insurance scheme, sources said.The Ayushman Bharat scheme is expected to cover around 1.43 crore poor families, elderly and frontline workers in Bengal. The Swasthya Sathi scheme, on the other hand, provides near-universal annual health coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family to around 2.45 crore families not covered by government health schemes.“These (Ayushma Bharat beneficiaries) are families for which the Central government will share the premium. The other residents of West Bengal covered under the Swasthya Sathi scheme will also be on-boarded to Ayushman Bharat, with the state government completely covering the premium,” said officials.While the Swasthya Sathi scheme provides cover to all permanent residents of Bengal not covered by other government scheme, the Ayushman Bharat scheme has a specific list of beneficiaries — the poorest 40% as per the socio-economic caste census 2011, all elderly aged 70 years and above and frontline healthcare workers such as ASHA and Anganwadi workers among others.Also Read | Centre set resume MGNREGS, PM Awaas scheme in West BengalUsually, for the poorest and other beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat, 60% of the insurance premium is paid by the Centre and 40% by the state. For extending the cover to others, the state government will have to pay the entire premium. “The benefit is these residents will be able to access the national network of empanelled hospitals with the card,” said the officials.There are over 36,000 empanelled hospitals under Ayushman Bharat and the scheme allows portability, meaning patients from one state can use their card in another to access healthcare services.The newly formed State Health Authority is in the process of uploading patients’ and empanelled hospitals’ data to the national portal.Story continues below this adThe official also added that with a BJP government in the state, Bengal is unlikely to go for co-branding, although the decision is yet to be taken. The newly formed State Health Authority is in the process of uploading patients’ and empanelled hospitals’ data to the national portal.Anonna Dutt is a Principal Correspondent who writes primarily on health at the Indian Express. She reports on myriad topics ranging from the growing burden of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes and hypertension to the problems with pervasive infectious conditions. She reported on the government’s management of the Covid-19 pandemic and closely followed the vaccination programme. Her stories have resulted in the city government investing in high-end tests for the poor and acknowledging errors in their official reports. Dutt also takes a keen interest in the country’s space programme and has written on key missions like Chandrayaan 2 and 3, Aditya L1, and Gaganyaan. She was among the first batch of eleven media fellows with RBM Partnership to End Malaria. She was also selected to participate in the short-term programme on early childhood reporting at Columbia University’s Dart Centre. Dutt has a Bachelor’s Degree from the Symbiosis Institute of Media and Communication, Pune and a PG Diploma from the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. She started her reporting career with the Hindustan Times. When not at work, she tries to appease the Duolingo owl with her French skills and sometimes takes to the dance floor. ... Read More Tags:ayushman bharat