Chandigarh, Sep 17 (IANS): Fulfilling his government's universal healthcare poll promise, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday announced free insurance cover for the 15 lakh families who were earlier not included in the ambit of the Ayushman Bharat-Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana.

He announced the decision at the virtual cabinet meeting, where the Health Department had proposed bringing these families into the government schemes cover on co-sharing basis, which would have required the beneficiaries to pay for part of the expense.

However, Amarinder Singh suggested making the insurance cover for these families also completely free in line with his government's promise of universal healthcare for the people of Punjab.

Barring the families of government employees or pensioners, who were already covered under Punjab medical attendance rules, all remaining nearly 55 lakh families in the state will now come under the ambit of this scheme, an official spokesperson said after the meeting.

The state will now be bearing a cost of Rs 593 crore per annum to cover 55 lakh families to provide insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per for secondary and tertiary care treatments in empanelled public and private hospitals.