Team Insaf alleges health insurance scam, minister assures action

LUDHIANA: Team Insaaf leader Simarjit Bains, on Monday, claimed to have exposed the misuse of Bhagat Pooran Singh Health Insurance Scheme. Exposing the malpractice, Bains got the money hospitals charged patients reimbursed. Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani, who was in the city on Monday, announced that hospitals and doctors found misusing the scheme and cheating patients will be taken to task.
Earlier, members of Team Insaaf led by Simarjit Bains accused private hospitals of misusing the Bhagat Puran Singh Health Insurance Scheme. They said they were charging patients and also getting reimbursements from the government. The members accompanied two patients who were duped by hospitals and got their money reimbursed by doctors.
Meanwhile, doctors justified themselves saying there were many lines of treatment, for which the amount given under the insurance scheme was not enough. In such cases, they said, they took the remaining amount from patients. However, these hospitals and nursing homes did not give receipts for payments made by patients. In fact, they were asked to tell everyone they were treated free of cost.
Punjab health and family welfare minister Surjit Kumar Jyani said if a hospital empaneled under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana dupes beneficiaries of this government scheme, it will be removed from the scheme and legal action would be taken against the owner or doctor. Besides, the hospital's registration would be cancelled. He urged the beneficiaries of the scheme to submit their complaints at the toll free number, 104. He assured instant action on the part of the government. The scheme covers families under the Atta Dal Scheme of the Punjab government giving them benefit up to Rs 30,000 a year for the family.