In a landmarlk decision, the Central government announced that senior citizens who are above 70 years of age will get free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh under Ayushman Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
The initial outlay of the scheme will be Rs 3,437 crore. “This is a demand-based scheme; as the demand goes up, the coverage will also be increased,” said Union minister Ashwini Vaishnav while announcing the cabinet decision.
“This is a very big decision. There is a great humanitarian thinking in this decision. They will get the facility of free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh and this will cover about 4.5 crore families in the country, which will include about 6 crore senior citizens,” he said.
The senior citizens above 70 years of age, who are already getting benefits of other public health insurance schemes such as Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), and Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) can either choose their existing scheme or opt for AB PMJAY.
Now it is clear after the Cabinet meeting 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 AB PM-JAY.
This decision will add nearly 6 crore additional beneficiaries from 4.5 crore families to the flagship scheme. While the scheme was geared towards universal health coverage, this will be the first age-cohort to receive complete coverage.
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.
“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.
