Source: Mint
Context: The Centre’s Ayushman Bharat and West Bengal’s Mukhyamantri Swasthya Bima Yojana were rolled out in the State, providing cashless secondary and tertiary healthcare through empanelled hospitals.
What is AB-PMJAY?
- The world’s largest government-funded health assurance scheme.
- Implemented by: the National Health Authority (NHA), under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
- Launched: 23 September 2018
- Coverage: the bottom 40 per cent of India’s vulnerable and low-income population
- Policy origin: recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve Universal Health Coverage and Sustainable Development Goal 3
The Four Pillars of Ayushman Bharat
- AB-PMJAY — secondary and tertiary hospitalisation assurance
- Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) — decentralised comprehensive primary healthcare
- Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) — digital health infrastructure and ABHA IDs
- PM-ABHIM — health infrastructure upgradation across rural and urban centres
Key Features
- ₹5 lakh annual cover per family, for secondary and tertiary care at empanelled public and private hospitals
- Pre-existing conditions covered from day one — over 1,900 medical and surgical packages, plus 3 days pre-hospitalisation and 15 days post-hospitalisation diagnostic and medication costs
- No cap on family size, gender or age
- Universal cover for those aged 70 and above — ₹5 lakh annually, irrespective of socio-economic status
- Cashless, paperless and nationally portable — the Ayushman Card works at any empanelled hospital anywhere in India
