NEW DELHI -- The world's largest government-funded health insurance program covering 500 million poor people -- equivalent to the population of the European Union -- has been rolled out in India, despite the refusal of five local states to partake.
Ahead of general elections due by the middle of next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the service called Ayushman Bharat -- popularly known as Modicare -- on Sunday in the eastern city of Ranchi, saying it would provide free medical treatment of up to 500,000 rupees ($6,800) annually to each of the families identified as beneficiaries. The rollout was brought forward by two days.
