Social Security and healthcare assurance for all has been the motto of Government of India, and it has
taken various steps in this regard. One of the most important policy milestones is the Unorganized
Workers Social Security Act (2008) enacted by the Central Government to provide for the social security
and welfare of the unorganized workers. This act recommends that the Central Government provide
social security schemes to mitigate risks due to disability, health shocks, maternity and old age which all
unorganized workers get exposed to and are likely to suffer from. In India more than two thirs of
expenditure on health is through Out of Pocket (OOP) which is the most ieficient and least accountable
way of spending on health. Suppy side financing on health alone has not been found to be successful in
reducing OOP expenditure on health substantially and therefore, to test the demand side financing
approach, Government of India, decided to introduce Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) a Health
Insurance Scheme for the Below Poverty Line families with the objectives to reduce OOP expenditure on
health and increase access to health care.
Under this project COMTECH in collaboration with National Insurance Company issued 50 thousand
Smart Cards for District Srinagar & Jammu.