Maharashtra introduces health insurance scheme for Marathis in Karnataka

The Maharashtra government, which allocates funds of up to ₹5 crore every year towards preservation of Maharashtrian culture in Karnataka, has introduced its health insurance scheme for Marathis in the neighbouring state, starting Monday. Five application filing centres have been started in Belagavi city, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We will also launch insurance form receiving centres in all 864 places in Karnataka, including Belagavi, Bidar, Kalaburagi, and Karwar districts shortly,” said Vikas Kalaghatagi, spokesperson of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), an advocacy group. “The applications may also be filed online. We will also start a toll-free number for registration.”

Maharashtra claims rights over 864 locations in Karnataka, and had filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court in 2004 in this regard.

The Maharashtra government has simplified the system of enrolling names, where applicants must produce certificates such as income proof, ration card and residence card indicating they were from the disputed places, a total cost bill from hospitals, the Maharashtra chief minister’s help desk approval letter at the hospital, hospital bank account, and a letter from the Samiti certifying that the applicant is a Maharashtrian.

The insurance will cover serious accidents, dialysis, brain haemorrhage, treatment for newborns, heart ailments, and other major diseases. “We will facilitate every applicant, but provide a few documents just for office references. The entire family will be covered with a certificate,” Kalaghatagi said, adding that obtaining an approval letter from MES and producing a residential certificate is a must to get insurance benefits.

Maharashtra has named the scheme “Mahatma Fule Aayogya Yojana” and has allocated ₹181 crore for this purpose in its last budget. Applicants can receive treatment in selected hospitals in Karnataka and Maharashtra.

“At present in Karnataka, we have collaborated with about a dozen hospitals, including five in Belagavi, and a few more hospitals with multi-speciality facilities will be added in the days to come,” said former legislator Manohar Kinekar, who represented Belagavi Rural constituency.

The MES is overwhelmed with the response it received on the first day on Monday and Tuesday, with more than 500 registrations on Monday and more than a thousand on Tuesday. “Excited with the health insurance scheme, our people are thronging to our official centres and also filing online enrollment,” said MES activist and former mayor Maloji Ashtekar.

To make the registration procedure easy for the uneducated, a toll-free number has been announced, where Maharashtrians can call and provide their family details, he said.

Noticing its culture among its people in Karnataka was diminishing, Maharashtra has been allocating a fund of ₹5 crore every year since 2015 to preserve its culture and tradition in Karnataka.

Coming down harshly on the Karnataka government, a woman from a locality in Belagavi, whose Marathi linguistic neighbour showed her the Maharashtra Insurance Registration certificate on Tuesday, said Karnataka applicants must have to table dozens of certificates to get enrolled in the central government’s Ayushman Bharat health scheme.

Responding to the facility Maharashtra has given to Marathis, Belagavi district in-charge minister Satish Jarkiholi welcomed the move and appealed to all Maharashtrians to enrol their names to avail of the benefits, which can reduce the financial burden during family illnesses.

“I am also impressed with the scheme and will ask our chief minister to provide such a scheme to all Kannadigas settled not only in Maharashtra, but throughout the nation,” he said.

Karnataka’s women and child development minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar said that she, too, was considering introducing such an insurance scheme for those who work as field staff in the department.

“Lakhs of Anganwadi and ASHA workers, serving as field staff in my department, would benefit from such a scheme,” she added. Hindustan Times