Chennai, Aug 2026: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay on Wednesday announced a five-fold increase in the annual coverage under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme, raising the limit from ₹5 lakh to ₹25 lakh per beneficiary family.
Making the announcement in the Legislative Assembly, Vijay said access to quality healthcare was a fundamental right and should not be restricted to those who could afford expensive medical treatment. He said the enhanced insurance coverage was part of a broader effort to strengthen the state’s healthcare system and ensure that financial constraints or geographical barriers do not prevent citizens from accessing necessary treatment.
The Chief Minister said the government was committed to expanding social welfare measures and improving the availability of essential public services across Tamil Nadu. The increase in insurance coverage is expected to provide greater financial protection to families facing major medical expenses.
In another significant announcement, Vijay unveiled a support package for all 234 members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Under the initiative, every MLA will be provided with a government vehicle to facilitate travel within their constituencies and enable them to respond more effectively to public grievances.
Vijay said legislators regularly travel across their constituencies to meet residents, inspect development projects, interact with officials and address local issues. Providing official vehicles would help them perform these responsibilities more efficiently and, he added, contribute to greater transparency and corruption-free governance.
The government noted that several members of the current Assembly are first-time legislators, while some come from economically modest backgrounds. According to Vijay, such representatives may not have the financial resources or logistical facilities required to travel extensively across their constituencies.
The decision followed a request from VCK MLA Jothimani, who raised the issue in the Assembly and argued that legislators required adequate logistical support to discharge their responsibilities effectively. Responding to the request, the government decided to provide vehicles to all members of the House.
In addition to the government vehicle, each MLA will receive a monthly allowance of ₹75,000 towards expenses related to the vehicle, including fuel, driver costs and maintenance.
The government will also provide every legislator with a monthly grant of ₹25,000 to appoint a secretary. The secretary will assist with constituency correspondence, official communication and other administrative responsibilities.
The measures are aimed at strengthening constituency-level functioning and ensuring that elected representatives can maintain closer contact with the people they serve. The government expects the additional logistical and administrative support to enable MLAs to respond more quickly to public complaints and coordinate more effectively with government departments.
However, the government has not yet disclosed the overall financial implications of the package covering all 234 legislators. It has also not specified when the vehicles, allowances and secretary grants will formally come into effect.
The announcements underline the government’s focus on expanding healthcare protection while simultaneously providing legislators with additional resources to improve public outreach and constituency-level governance.
