New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to roll out health coverage for all citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their income status, under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) on Tuesday. As per sources, the expanded scheme will benefit an estimated six crore citizens in about 4.5 crore households.
Regardless of economic status—whether poor, middle class, upper middle class, or wealthy—every individual aged 70 years and above will be eligible for an Ayushman card and will receive free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh at any of the AB-PMJAY empaneled hospitals once the expanded scheme is launched.
Features of the Health Insurance Scheme for Senior Citizens:
- Senior citizens aged 70 and above who belong to families already covered under AB-PMJAY will receive an additional top-up cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per year, exclusively for themselves (not shared with other family members under 70).
- All other senior citizens aged 70 years and above will get coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per year on a family basis.
- The scheme is currently being implemented in 33 states and Union territories, excluding Delhi, Odisha, and West Bengal.
- Eligibility is based on age verification through the Aadhaar card.
- It is an application-based scheme, requiring registration on the PMJAY portal or the Ayushman app, according to official sources.
- Individuals who already hold an Ayushman card will need to apply for a new card and complete eKYC again, sources added.
- Senior citizens aged 70 and above under private health insurance policies or the Employees’ State Insurance scheme will also be eligible to avail of the scheme’s benefits.
- Senior citizens already availing benefits under public health schemes such as the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), and Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) may either continue with their existing scheme or opt for AB-PMJAY.
The AB-PMJAY scheme has covered 7.37 crore hospital admissions, with 49 percent of beneficiaries being women. To date, the public has benefited to the tune of over Rs 1 lakh crore under the scheme, according to the health ministry. The scheme has progressively expanded its beneficiary base, initially covering 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families (the bottom 40 percent of India’s population). As of September 1, 2024, a total of 29,648 hospitals, including 12,696 private hospitals, are empaneled under PMJAY.
In January 2022, the Centre revised the beneficiary base from 10.74 crore to 12 crore families, considering India’s decadal population growth of 11.7 percent since 2011. The scheme was later expanded to cover 37 lakh ASHAs, AWWs, and AWHs working across the country and their families for free healthcare benefits.
On Tuesday, the PM is also scheduled to launch the U-WIN portal, developed to maintain an electronic registry of routine immunizations. The U-WIN platform, modeled after the COVID-19 vaccine management system Co-WIN, has been developed to keep a permanent digital record of vaccinations for pregnant women and children from birth up to age 17 under the Universal Immunization Programme.
