Now, all senior citizens aged 70 and above will be covered under Ayshman Bharat Scheme. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the proposal of providing health coverage to all the senior citizens aged 70 and above irrespective of their income under the flagship scheme, Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). This will bring approximately 4.5 crore families, with six crore senior citizens under the purview of the scheme, wherein they will be able to avail ₹5 lakh free health insurance cover on a family basis.
This move has fulfilled one of the promises made by the BJP in its agenda. The eligible senior citizens would be issued a new distinct card under the AB PM-JAY.
Details of the Coverage
Under this initiative, the senior citizens of the age 70 and above belonging to families already covered under the AB PM-JAY will get an additional top-up cover up to ₹5 lakh per year for themselves (which they do not have to share with the other members of the family who are below the age of 70). All other senior citizens of the age 70 and above will get a cover up to ₹5 lakh per year on a family basis.
Senior citizens of the age 70 and above who are already availing benefits of other public health insurance schemes such as the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) may either choose their existing scheme or opt for AB PM-JAY. It has been clarified that senior citizens of 70 years and above who are under private health insurance policies or Employees’ State Insurance scheme will be eligible to avail benefits under the AB PM-JAY.
“The AB PM-JAY is the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance scheme which provides health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to 55 crore individuals corresponding to 12.34 crore families,” said a release by the Central government.
All members of the eligible families irrespective of age are covered under the scheme. The scheme has covered 7.37 crore hospital admissions, including 49% women beneficiaries. The public has benefited to the extent of over ₹1 lakh crore under the scheme.
Continuous Expansion
The Health Ministry added that the AB PM-JAY scheme had witnessed continuous expansion of the beneficiary base. Initially, 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families comprising the bottom 40% of India’s population were covered under the scheme. Later, the Government of India, in January 2022 revised the beneficiary base under AB PM-JAY from 10.74 crore to 12 crore families considering India’s decadal population growth of 11.7% over 2011 population.
“The scheme was further expanded to cover 37 lakh ASHAs/AWWs/AWHs working across the country and their families for free healthcare benefits. Taking the mission ahead, the AB PM-JAY would now provide free healthcare coverage of ₹5 lakh to all citizens of the age-group of 70 years and above across the country,” the Ministry noted.
