Context:
The Union Cabinet has approved health coverage for all senior citizens aged 70 years and above under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), regardless of their income.
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Benefits for Senior Citizens
- With this approval, all senior citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of their socio-economic status, will be eligible to avail themselves of the benefits under AB PM-JAY.
- This move is set to benefit approximately 4.5 crore families, encompassing six crore senior citizens, with a free health insurance cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year.
- Eligible senior citizens will receive a new distinct card under the scheme.
- Those belonging to families already covered under AB PM-JAY will get an additional top-up cover of ₹5 lakh per year, exclusively for themselves.
- All other senior citizens aged 70 and above will receive a cover of up to ₹5 lakh per year on a family basis.
Option to Choose Between Schemes
- Senior citizens who are currently beneficiaries of other public health insurance schemes like the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), and Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) can either continue with their existing scheme or opt for AB PM-JAY.
- Additionally, senior citizens under private health insurance or the Employees’ State Insurance scheme will also be eligible to receive benefits under AB PM-JAY.
About AB PM-JAY
- AB PM-JAY is the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance scheme, providing a health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
- The scheme currently covers 55 crore individuals across 12.34 crore families.
- Currently, beneficiaries are identified from the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC), based on specific deprivation and occupational criteria across both rural and urban areas.
- The scheme has covered 7.37 Crore hospital admissions including 49% of women beneficiaries, and has provided benefits of over ₹1 lakh crore.
Continuous Expansion
- The AB PM-JAY scheme has witnessed continuous expansion of the beneficiary base.
- The scheme, which began by covering 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families comprising the bottom 40% of India’s population, was later expanded to include 12 crore families considering India’s decadal population growth of 11.7 % over the 2011 population.
- Additionally, 37 lakh ASHAs/AWWs/AWHs and their families were also brought under free healthcare benefits.
ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist)
- ASHA workers are community health workers who are part of India’s National Rural Health Mission (NRHM).
- They are trained to provide information and aid people in accessing the benefits of various healthcare schemes of the government.