Karnataka pensioners get ₹5 lakh cashless health cover under Sandhya Kiran, check how much they will pay

The Karnataka Cabinet on Thursday approved the 'Sandhya Kiran' cashless healthcare scheme for state pensioners below 70 years, family pensioners and their eligible dependents, PTI reported.

The scheme aims to provide financial and health security to retired employees and their families and will initially cover about 4.93 lakh beneficiaries, including 3.11 lakh State Government pensioners below 70 years and their eligible dependents.

"This scheme is a vital social security measure ensuring quality, affordable and cashless healthcare services for State Government pensioners and their families, helping significantly reduce the financial burden of unexpected medical expenses," the CMO said in a press release issued after the Cabinet meeting.

Formulated under the Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka regulations, the scheme will provide eligible families cashless treatment of up to ₹5 lakh a year on a floater basis for secondary, tertiary and emergency care at empanelled hospitals.

The benefit packages and revised rates under AB-ArK will also apply to 'Sandhya Kiran'.

Service pensioners will contribute 1.25 per cent of their basic pension, while family pensioners will contribute 0.75 per cent of their basic family pension.

How much will Karnataka pensioners pay under Sandhya Kiran?

We are assuming the basic pension for calculation purposes. Based on the 1.25% contribution rate for service pensioners, the monthly and annual contribution will depend on the basic pension.

For family pensioners, who will contribute 0.75% of their basic family pension, the contribution will be lower.

We are assuming the basic pension/family pension shown above for illustrative calculations.

The scheme is expected to generate about ₹117 crore annually in contributions, against an estimated annual treatment cost of ₹ 81.75 crore. Of the treatment cost, 70 per cent will be met from beneficiaries' contributions and 30 per cent by the state government, amounting to about ₹57.22 crore and ₹24.53 crore, respectively.

To maintain the scheme's financial stability, the government has proposed automatically increasing the contribution rate by 0.05 percentage points (five basis points) whenever corpus utilisation exceeds 85 per cent.

The Suvarna Arogya Suraksha Trust will implement the scheme. Beneficiary registration, contribution collection, hospital-network administration, cashless treatment, claims management and overall oversight will be handled through the AB-ArK system.

-With PTI inputs