With the general elections nearing, the government is moving fast to put in place a mechanism that would enable the beneficiaries of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) to use the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) as service provider.

The Cabinet has already given its nod to a proposed amendment to the Act but istead of moving an amendment to the ESIC Act 1948, the government now wants to bring an ordinance before the Monsoon session begins.

According to officials, in order to implement this idea at the earliest, the ministry has planned to bring an ordinance and then amend ESIC Act later to make it a permanent law. The ministry is expecting law and justice ministry opinion about the proposed amendment any time this week.

The ministry officials said, “the ministry want to bring an ordinance before the before the announcement of Monsoon Session to impress about 30 crores prospective RSBY beneficiaries. If the ministry fails to bring an ordinance before announcement of Monsoon Session, then it would have to introduce in the Parliament, which may defer the implementation of this idea. Once the ordinance comes, it will be enforced for six months. During that period, the amendment bill can be introduced in Parliament to make it permanent law.”

The government has introduced RSBY from April 1 this year. Under this scheme, a cashless health insurance cover would be provided to Below Poverty Line (BPL) workers across the country. It is estimated that there are about 6 crore such families. The subscribers of RSBY would have to pay just Rs 30 as registration fee.