The Union cabinet on Wednesday approved the health coverage to all senior citizens aged 70 and above irrespective of their income under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana scheme.
The scheme will now benefit 4.5 crore families with six crore senior citizens with Rs 5 lakh free health insurance cover on a family basis, said an official release.
The cabinet meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. With the expansion of the scheme, the eligible senior citizens would now be issued a new distinct card under the AB PM-JAY.
Key highlights of the scheme
- The senior citizens of the age 70 years and above belonging to families already covered under AB PM-JAY will get an additional top-up cover 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 of the age 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) can either choose their existing scheme or opt for AB PMJAY.
- Senior citizens of 70 years and above who are under private health insurance policies or the Employees’ State Insurance scheme will be eligible to avail benefits under AB PM-JAY.
The government claims that the AB PM-JAY 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 hospitalisation 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 percent women beneficiaries. The public has benefited to the extent of over Rs. 1 Lakh crore under the scheme,” the government said in a statement.