Bihar government to offer Rs 5 lakh health insurance to 58 lakh families covered under Food Security scheme

The health insurance will cover all members of 58 lakh families under cumulative cover of a maximum of Rs 5 lakh cashless insurance at empanelled government hospitals in the state.
The state government’s decision comes close on the heels of a major announcement of the government having decided to give Rs 2 lakh — in three instalments — to a member of each of 94 lakh poor families identified in the recently-conducted Bihar caste-based survey. The state government has also decided to give Rs 1.8 lakh to each of 67,000 homeless families to buy land and raise homes.

Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who started announcing populist schemes after the caste survey, is looking to expand other benefits to the poor families ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls. With Leader of Opposition, RJD’s Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, hitting the road with his ongoing Janvishwas yatra, the Bihar CM is looking to counter Tejashwi’s bid to take credit for giving about four lakh jobs during the last 17 months of Mahagathbandhan government. Meanwhile, Nitish Wednesday announced road and bridge projects worth Rs 4,446 crore.