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Bringing all citizens above 70 years under the ambit of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana would benefit an additional six crore senior citizens, said the government.
The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday, approved the health coverage to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of income, under the flagship health security scheme. This aims to benefit approximately 4.5 crore families with six crore senior citizens with 5 lakh rupees free health insurance coverage on a family basis. With this approval, all senior citizens of the age 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status, would be eligible to avail the benefits of the scheme. The eligible senior citizens would be issued a new distinct card under the health security scheme. The senior citizens of age 70 years and above belonging to families already covered under the scheme will get an additional top-up cover of up to Rs 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 years). All other senior citizens of the age 70 years and above will get a cover up to Rs 5 lakh per year on a family basis. Senior citizens aged 70 years and above who are already availing benefits of other public health insurance schemes such as the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), and the Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) may either choose their existing scheme or opt for Ayushman Bharat. It has been clarified that senior citizens of 70 years and older who are under private health insurance policies or the Employees' State Insurance scheme will be eligible to avail benefits under Ayushman Bharat. Ayushman Bharat is the world's largest publicly funded health assurance scheme, which provides health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to 55 crore individuals, corresponding to 12.34 crore families. 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 per cent of women beneficiaries. The public has benefited to the extent of over Rs. 1 lakh crore under the scheme. The Ayushman Bharat scheme has witnessed a continuous expansion of the beneficiary base. Initially, 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families comprising the bottom 40 per cent of India's population were covered under the scheme. Later, the government, in January 2022, revised the beneficiary base from 10.74 crore to 12 crore families, considering India's decadal population growth of 11.7 per cent over the 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. (ANI)
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