As per the prior announcement, Health Minister Paudel is preparing to further expand the health insurance facility

Nepal Health News, Kathmandu: Minister for Health and Population, Pradeep Paudel, has initiated the process to provide treatment assistance for impoverished citizens through the health insurance program, as per his earlier announcement.

To outline the integration of treatment assistance into the health insurance scheme, Minister Paudel has formed an expert committee. The committee has been asked to submit its report and recommendations within a week.

Minister Paudel shared this update via social media. He wrote, “In line with our earlier commitment to make policy reforms so that treatment assistance and health insurance benefits provided by the government are offered through a unified health insurance program, we have now started the implementation process.”

He further mentioned that the decision to double the treatment assistance for patients suffering from eight complex diseases through the health insurance program has already been implemented. According to him, integrating all treatment-related benefits into one system will significantly enhance the services available through health insurance.

“We are continuously working to improve access to healthcare services for the general public. We believe this system will make it easier for citizens to access medical care,” the Minister added.

On Shrawan 27 (mid-August), Minister Paudel had publicly announced his plans and priorities, stating that the treatment support provided by the government would be offered through the health insurance program, and that both policy and operational reforms would be made to strengthen the scheme.

Accordingly, a new provision has been introduced allowing individuals to access their first health insurance services from their own locality. Additionally, the waiting period for receiving health insurance benefits has been reduced from three months to just one month. Minister Paudel has also made policy decisions to establish a first-point service center for health insurance in every local level unit, as part of his ongoing reform agenda.

According to the Ministry’s spokesperson, Dr. Prakash Budhathoki, the government has announced through its budget that all outstanding dues of the health insurance program will be cleared within the current fiscal year. This is expected to resolve the payment-related challenges faced by the program.

Dr. Raghuraj Kafle, Executive Director of the Health Insurance Board, stated that integrating all government health services into the insurance program will not only increase revenue for the scheme but also improve service delivery.