SWASTHYA PENSION SCHEME

NEWS: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has rolled out the NPS Swasthya Pension Scheme as a pilot under its Regulatory Sandbox Framework, aiming to combine healthcare expense coverage with long-term pension savings.

ABOUT

• Sector-specific scheme under the National Pension System (NPS) designed to provide financial support for medical expenses—both outpatient (OPD) and inpatient (IPD)—using pension-linked savings.
• Introduced as a Proof of Concept (PoC) on a limited scale under PFRDA’s Regulatory Sandbox, allowing controlled experimentation before any full-scale rollout.

Objective

• Integrate healthcare financing with long-term retirement planning
• Reduce out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on medical care
• Test the operational, technological, and regulatory feasibility of health-linked pension products
• Enhance subscriber-centric innovation within the NPS ecosystem

Key features

• Open to all Indian citizens on a voluntary basis
• Medical expense withdrawals: Partial withdrawals allowed for OPD and IPD expenses, up to 25% of subscriber’s own contributions can be withdrawn
• Subscribers above 40 years (excluding government sector) can transfer up to 30% of their contributions into the Swasthya Scheme.
• Mandatory disclosures on benefits, fees, claims, exits