# Tamil Nadu to launch health insurance for elderly, new public health act 2026-08-17T16:53:59+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Tamil Nadu Health Minister K G Arunraj announced on Monday a new health insurance scheme for senior citizens and a plan to replace the 1939 Public Health Act. The Chief Minister's Elderly Insurance Scheme will cover nearly 38 lakh people aged 70 and above, with no income limit, and includes cancer care, advanced cardiac surgeries, and organ transplants at empanelled hospitals. The minister made 115 announcements for the Health Department with an estimated outlay of Rs 2,997 crore, The Hindu reports. These include the 'Nalam 360' scheme providing free annual health check-ups with 14 basic tests for all citizens aged 30 and above, the establishment of TN MediCity with an initial Rs 10 crore for a detailed project report, and a Rs 26.87 crore Integrated Mental Health Plan across 12 districts. The government will also create 2,500 permanent nursing posts and 284 super-specialty positions. A new Tamil Nadu Public Health Act will replace the 1939 version, introducing a provision making unsupervised home births a punishable offence, Hindustan Times reports. A 'Positive Health Policy' and the 'Nalam 360' mobile application will also be launched. The announcements cover policy reforms, infrastructure projects, and digital health initiatives for 2026-2027. ## Coverage - hindustantimes.com - thehindu.com This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-18T05:06:04+00:00. Tags: Elderly Insurance Scheme, K.G. Arunraj, Tamil Nadu, Tamil Nadu Public Health Act Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/tn-announces-elderly-insurance-medicity-new-public-health-act/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/tn-announces-elderly-insurance-medicity-new-public-health-act/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/