India’s new health insurance to cost govts $1.71 billion a year

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to provide health insurance to 100 million poor families would require 110 billion rupees ($ 1.71 billion) in federal and state funding each year, a government official told Reuters.

The National Health Protection Scheme, dubbed “Modicare” and announced in Thursday’s budget, would provide 100 million families, or about 500 million poor people, with a health cover of 500,000 rupees ($ 7,850) for free treatment of serious ailments.

The government has estimated the premium for insuring each family would be about 1,100 rupees ($ 17.15), said the government official with direct knowledge of the matter.