The Governor's Administration in Jammu and Kashmir on September 20 formally rolled out the Group Mediclaim Health Insurance scheme for employees, pensioners and accredited journalists in the state.

Giving details of the scheme, Principal Secretary of Finance Navin K Choudhary said the scheme is mandatory for government employees, including employees of PSUs, Autonomous Bodies and Universities, while it will be optional for Pensioners, AIS Officers, Adhoc, Contractual, DRWs, Work Charged and Contingent Paid Workers and Accredited Journalists.

The scheme, he said, shall come into effect from October I, 2018, for a period of one year and extendable annually for three years, based on satisfactory performance of the Insurer. Mr Choudhary said the policy has been tied up with Reliance General Insurance Company Ltd on annual premium of Rs 8777 and Rs 22,229 (for employees and pensioners, respectively).

The Policy will provide health insurance coverage up to Rs six Iakh per employee and pensioner per annum along with his or her five dependent family members on floater basis. He said the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and the Accredited Journalists of the State shall be also covered under the scheme. They may do so, provided the premium is collected in four quarterly installments in advance and paid to the Insurance Agency on due dates by the Agency concerned themselves.

He said the Medical Allowance in favour of all enrolled employees shall be discontinued, drawn and credited to the MH 8235 during the currency of the policy on monthly basis. Mr Choudhary said the annual premium for the insurance cover of Rs six lakh would be Rs 8777 and the same shall be deducted in four quarterly installments of Rs 1295 on October I, January 15, April 15 and the last installment of Rs 1292 on July I, each year.

He said the Reliance General Insurance Company will create a corporate buffer of Rs 10 crore, as part of the Policy, to meet the expenditure incurred on the identified illness over and above the insurance cover of Rs six lakh. He said in case, both husband and wife or any other family member is Government Employee(s) or pensioner(s), the premium shall be payable by any one of them.

The DDO shall obtain an authenticated certificate, in case the premium has been paid by any other family member(s) of the employee and check/verify it from the concerned Treasury Officer. ''If the parents or one of the parents of an employee, who are/is pensioners/pensioner, fall within the employee plus dependent's cap of 1+5, they are not required to pay the premium separately and take out a separate policy.

''However, if the employee and his dependents, which include his family plus his pensioner parents, exceed the above cap, one of the pensioner parents can take out a separate policy for himself or herself and his or her dependents,'' he said. In case where either husband or wife is a Central Government Employee and has opted for the Mediclaim Insurance Policy launched by his/her employer, the Group Mediclaim Insurance Policy shall be optional in the case of his/her spouse, who is State Government Employee.

However, the State Government employee have to necessarily provide a certificate from the DDO concerned of his/her spouse to the effect that the latter is covered under the Insurance Policy of his/her employer and has paid the premium for the said purpose.

He said the Government shall not refund any premium amount paid in excess by any employee due to his/her own negligence or by the concerned DDO. So, the instructions/directions issued in this behalf are required to be adhered to, in letter and spirit. Any deviation will be personal responsibility of the concerned DDO, Mr Choudhary added.