In the past, the Government had tried to provide a health insurance cover to selected beneficiaries either at the State level or National level. However, most of these schemes were not able to achieve their intended objectives. Often there were issues with either the design and/ or implementation of these schemes.
After some failed approaches in covering people with health insurance at different levels of the country, the Government of India designed a health insurance scheme which learned from the weaknesses of the former schemes and integrated innovative approached inspired by global best practices. RSBY came to life on 1st April 2008.
RSBY tried providing protection to workers and their families in the informal economy and poor households against the risk of health spending leading to poverty. It tried organizing and administering health insurance, especially in rural areas recognizing the need for social security to these workers.
For more information on the scheme, refer to the relevant government pages:
https://www.india.gov.in/spotlight/rashtriya-swasthya-bima-yojana#rsby1
