Buy a health cover for your domestic help at Rs 200/month

NEW DELHI: You can soon buy a health cover for your domestic help and her family for just Rs 2,400 a year as the labour ministry is set to notify a new social security scheme for domestic helps and scheme workers.
The first of its kind scheme, which will be launched on voluntary basis, will save one from paying for any medical emergency as there is no ceiling on expenditure on the treatment of an insured person or his/her family members.

A senior government official told ET that the Bandaru Dattatreya led labour ministry will launch the scheme on a pilot basis in Delhi and Hyderabad around August 15.

Coming as a part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's commitment to provide health insurance for all, the scheme is expected to benefit 60 lakh to more than one crore workers once it's rolled out nationwide. "It's a massive scheme and we could see PM Modi urge employers to voluntarily contribute for a social cause like this, much on the lines of his call for giving up of LPG subsidy," the official said, requesting anonymity as the scheme is yet to be notified.

Under the scheme, the employers would be required to contribute just Rs 200 per month to provide medical insurance for the entire family of his/her domestic help including house maids, drivers, caretakers and chefs at the Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) hospitals and dispensaries.

The benefits would be restricted to full medical care for self and dependents admissible from day one of insurable employment and there will be no cash benefits available to the insured person, the official said. The new scheme would be implemented by changing the rules of operation under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (ESI Act), the first major legislation on social security for workers in independent India, the official said.

The ESI Act 1948, encompasses certain health-related eventualities that workers are generally exposed to such as sickness, maternity, temporary or permanent disablement, occupational disease or death due to employment injury, resulting in loss of wages or earning capacity, either total or partial.

The social security cover for domestic help is part of the national policy for domestic workers, which is being given final shape by labour ministry.