ESIC
raises wage threshold to Rs 21,000
The Employees' State Insurance Corporation
(ESIC) today raised the monthly wage threshold to Rs 21,000, from the current
Rs 15,000, for coverage under its health insurance scheme.
In
a meeting held today, the ESIC board also decided to give an option to existing
insured persons to continue membership even if their wage breaches the ceiling
of Rs 21,000 per month.
At present, all those insured under the
ESIC scheme lose their membership of ESIC as well as that of the insurance
cover if their wage overshoots the ceiling.
"ESIC has raised the threshold wage
limit from Rs 15,000 to Rs 21,000," Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya
told PTI after the board meeting of ESIC here. Labour Minister is the Chairman
of the ESIC Board.
Both
the decisions will be implemented from October 1.
Dattatreya added that the move of raising
the threshold will help bring in an additional 50 lakh members to ESIC.
At present, ESIC has 2.6 crore insured
persons, which covers over 10 crore people, assuming four members of a family.
The
minister also said there is a plan to increase the wage threshold for
retirement fund body EPFO subscribers and it may be considered in the next
meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (CBT).
At present, the wage threshold is Rs 15,000
per month for coverage under its social security scheme.
Gazzeted copy of the same will be shared
very soon.
