New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week formally launched the expansion of the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), paving the way for all citizens above 70 years of age to join the government’s flagship health insurance scheme. Now, people in the said age group, who are more prone to hospitalisation than others, can register for the scheme on the Ayushman Bharat portal or its mobile app with their Aadhaar details, irrespective of their income. Officials in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare told ThePrint that it is mandatory for all eligible senior citizens to provide Aadhaar details during eKYC to enrol into the scheme.
Once registered, they will be issued a new card called Ayushman Vaya Vandana. Under the AB-PMJAY, first launched in 2018, beneficiaries are entitled to cashless hospitalisation coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh for secondary- and tertiary-level healthcare in empanelled hospitals. Around 12.
3 crore families of poor socio-economic status have been covered under the programme so far. According to government data, India has a total of nearly six crore people who are aged 70 or above. But since many of them are already covered on account of being part of low-income groups or as beneficiaries of government health schemes such as the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), an additional 2.
72 crore people from 1.96 crore families will now be added to the beneficiary pool. Government officials ThePrint spoke to said there i.
