Thiruvananthapuram | The Keralam government has constituted a technical expert committee to prepare a detailed project report for the proposed Oommen Chandy Health Insurance Scheme, which envisages insurance cover of up to Rs 25 lakh for every family in the state.
Health and Devaswom Minister K Muraleedharan said the committee, comprising experts from the insurance sector, has been asked to submit its report within four months.
Named after former chief minister and late Congress veteran Oommen Chandy, the scheme was one of the UDF's poll promises ahead of the Assembly elections and was later announced in the 2026-27 state budget as part of the proposed universal health coverage.
The committee will be headed by the Principal Secretary of the Health and Family Welfare Department, with the Secretaries of Finance and Planning and Economic Affairs departments, and the Executive Director of the State Health Agency (SHA), as members.
Insurance-sector experts on the panel include Girish Radhakrishnan, former Chairman and Managing Director of United India Insurance Company and former State Insurance Ombudsman; P J Joseph, former member of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI); and K Sanath Kumar, former Chairman and Managing Director of National Insurance Company.
It will examine the design and financial model of the scheme, including its integration with existing health insurance and public health assistance programmes, Muraleedharan said, adding that the government intends to bring as many families as possible under its ambit by keeping income-based restrictions to a minimum.
Implementation is likely to be routed through the SHA, with cashless treatment at empanelled government and private hospitals under consideration.
The committee will also look into hospital empanelment, claims management, quality assurance and grievance redressal mechanisms, besides other aspects of rolling out the scheme.
The minister said the government was moving ahead with the scheme as part of its commitment to fulfill the UDF's election promises.
