Hyderabad: Timely insurance reimbursement to stakeholders is very important for the success of government health schemes. But in both the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the Aarogyasri scheme, currently operational in states, payments by government to hospitals is not made on time. This is one of the major reasons that most healthcare providers do not want to be part of such government health schemes.
A senior healthcare provider in a private hospital revealed that CGHS bills are kept pending for six months to a year and Aarogyasri backlog in Telangana is now more than eight months. “Payments are made only when there is a call for withdrawal of services or a strike. This has made many wary and they do not want to be part of any government insurance scheme.”
The present backlog in payment for Aarogyasri in Telangana is more than Rs 200 crore and hospitals are demanding the reimbursement. This casual attitude towards the present schemes and cutting of almost 50 per cent of the money has made the healthcare sector extremely wary of government schemes.
Says a senior member of the IMA in the city “There are 20 small hospitals on sale as they are not able to meet the healthcare costs. Earlier, when Aarogyasri payments were on time, many of them survived but that is not the case now. We were hopeful that the new central insurance scheme would help to revive the healthcare sector but that has not happened.”
