Chennai :

The Tamil Nadu government has chosen United India Insurance, the public sector insurance company, for implementing the health insurance scheme for pensioners and family pensioners.

The company was chosen in an open bid and contract had been awarded for four years, said a government order issued by the finance department on Thursday.

The scheme pertains to provision of medical insurance to pensioners and family pensioners. The state government will pay the insurance premium along with the service tax to the insurance company on behalf of all the pensioners and family pensioners.

Finance minister O Panneerselvam made an announcement in the budget speech about the scheme and the finance department fixed the quantum of assistance at Rs 2 lakh to the pensioner and his or her spouse as well as family pensioners.

The pensioners and family pensioners will have to contribute an amount as subscription and the rest will be contributed by the government.

If the spouse is also a pensioner, the subscription would be collected from one person only, based on the option exercised by them, said a finance department official.

The amount of the pensioners’ contribution to the scheme would be decided after the selection of the insurance company and finalisation of the costs, said the order.

The scheme for pensioners and family pensioners is different from the general free insurance scheme which is for people whose income is below Rs 72,000 per annum.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by  B. Sivakumar, TNN / June 27th, 2014