 bill no  98  of  2018 the provision of health card (for persons living below poverty line) bill, 2018 by dr shrikant e shinde, mp a billto provide for issue of health card to citizens living below poverty line for availing medical facilities free of cost and for matters connected therewith or incidental theretobe it enacted by parliament in the sixty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—extent commencement(2) it extends to the whole of india (3) it shall come into force at oncedefinitions2 in this act unless the context otherwise requires,—(a) "medical store" means a registered pharmacy/drug store; (b) "person living below poverty line" means a person, whose annual income from all sources is less than rupees fifty thousand; and5(c) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this act 3 the central government shall formulate a compulsory health insurance scheme for persons living below poverty lineformulation of compulsory health insurance scheme104 (1) the central government shall, through the state government or the unionterritory administration, as the case may be, issue a health card to every citizen living below poverty lineinsuance ofhealth cards to persons living below poverty line(2) the health card shall contain the details such as name and age, address, details offamily members, annual income and such other information as may be prescribed(3) the compulsory health insurance scheme made under this act shall cover head ofthe family, his spouse, dependent parents and dependent children155 any citizen who is entitled to a health card but has not been issued the same, mayapproach the district administration, which shall, after necessary verification, issue the health cardcitizens to approach district administration for nonissuance of health card6 (1) any citizen, who has been issued a health card, may approach any hospital,including a privately run hospital for treatment of self or any of his family members, whose name has been included in the health card20right of health cardholders to get treatment from hospitals(2) the hospital shall not charge any fees from the cardholder for his treatment ortreatment of any member of his family and shall also provide the prescribed medicines free of cost:25provided that where medicines are unavailable in the hospital, it shall be procured froma medical store by the hospital and made available to the citizens within the stipulated time as may be prescribed(4) the hospital shall make entires in the health card regarding the total expenditureincurred by it in the treatment of the cardholder or his family members and send a copy of the detailed expenses to the central government in such manner as may be prescribed307 the total expenditure on the treatment in respect of a health cardholder and hisfamily members shall not excced rupees twenty-five thousand per year:limit of expenditure on the treatment of cardholders35provided that the cardholder may submit an application in the form as may be prescribedto the central government for enhancing the limit in case of any critical illness and the central government may allow an enhanced expenditure for the treatment of the particular disease8 subject to the provisions of section 7, no hospital shall refuse treatment of anycardholder, on the ground that the cardholder has not made any advance deposit with the hospital for treatmenthospitals not to refuse treatment to cardholders procedure for reimbursement409 the hospital shall make its claim for reimbursement of expenses in connection withtreatment of a cardholder or a member of his family to the central government in such manner as may be prescribed10 the central government on receipt of a claim under section 9 shall process the same and reimburse the expense within a month of receipt of the claim to the hospital concernedreimbursement to be made within a monthpenalty for violation511 if any hospital refuses to treat any cardholder or member of his family without anyvalid reason, the central  government shall issue directions for cancellation of the licence of the hospitalpower to make rules12 (1) the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, make rulesfor carrying out the provisions of this act10 15(2) every rule made under this act shall be laid, as soon as may be after it is made,before each house of parliament, while it is in session, for a total period of thirty days which may be comprised in one session or in two or more successive sessions, and if, before the expiry of the session immediately following the session or the successive sessions aforesaid, both houses agree in making any modification in the rule or both the houses agree that the rule should not be made, the rule shall thereafter have effect only in such modified form or be of no effect, as the case may be; so, however, that any such modification or annulment shall be without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done under that rule statement of objects and reasonsour country is facing the problem of shortage of manpower in the health sector below poverty line sectors cannot afford to seek any treatment from the private hospitals in our country due to high fees the government hospitals and health centres either lack medicine stock or have absentee doctors, especially in the rural areas healthcare on the other hand is extremely expensive in private sectors hence, high percentages of the population here cannot afford healthcare in private hospitalsindia, being a welfare state, care has to be taken by the government for the under privileged sections of the society it is proposed to provide that persons living below poverty line will be allowed to take free treatment in hospitals including private hospitalhence this billnew delhi;shrikant e shindefebruary 15, 2018 financial memorandumclause 3 of the bill provides for a health insurance scheme for all persons living below poverty line clause 4 provides for issuance of health cards to all persons living below poverty line to enable them to take treatment in hospitals clause 10 provides for reimbursement of expenses by the central government to the hospital concernedthe bill, therefore, if enacted, would involve expenditure from the consolidated fund of india it is likely to involve a recurring expenditure of about rupees five hundred crore per annuma non-recurring expenditure of about rupees  one thousand crore will also be involved for issuing health cards from the consolidated fund of india memorandum  regarding  delegated  legislationclause 12 of the bill empowers the central government to make rules for carrying out the purposes of the bill as the rules will relate to matters of detail only, the delegation of legislative power is of a normal character lok  sabha———— a billto provide for issue of health card to citizens living below poverty line for availing medical facilities free of cost and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto————(dr shrikant e shinde, mp)mgipmrnd—4306ls(s3)—16-03-2018