The Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) has 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, the ESIC board also decided to give an option to existing insured persons to continue membership even if their basic 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 basic wage overshoots the ceiling. Both decisions will be implemented from October 1. 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. There is a plan to increase the basic 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 basic wage threshold is Rs 15,000 per month for coverage under its social security scheme.