PM rolls out Ayushman Bharat for 70+ citizens

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday launched health cards under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY) to provide health coverage to people aged 70 years and above, regardless of their income and economic status.

The Ayushman Vaya Vandana card marks the beginning of the expanded scheme that is expected to change the face of public healthcare as India’s rapidly growing ageing citizens can now access treatment, which had been out of their reach because of high costs. Everyone of age 70 or more will be entitled to a cover of Rs 5 lakh annually, shared within the family. This means if there are two elderly beneficiaries in the household, the cover will be split among them.

“The elderly people, who always had anxieties about their healthcare because of costs, can now live with Swabhimaan (dignity),” said Modi. The scheme will be available everywhere except Delhi and Bengal, since these states have not adopted Ayushman Bharat.

The Prime Minister also announced the pan-India rollout of the U-WIN portal to digitise routine vaccinations.

Process of registration

In order to access the health coverage, people need to register on the PMJAY portal or on the Ayushman app. Those who have an Ayushman card already will also have to apply again on the portal or app and complete their eKYC for a new card.

While the Ayushman Bharat scheme was geared towards universal health coverage, this will be the first age cohort to receive complete coverage. The scheme will cover almost 6 crore individuals from 4.5 crore families. Of them, 1.78 crore people are already covered by the scheme. Among the rest, around 80 lakh people are separately covered under various government health schemes — the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, or cover provided to family members of Defence and Railways personnel.

At the time of the 2011 census, only 8.6 per cent of India’s population was over the age of 60 years. This is expected to increase to 19.5 per cent by 2050, according to the government’s Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI). In terms of numbers, Indians over the age of 60 are likely to be 319 million in 2050 — up more than three times from the 103 million in 2011.