© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched health cards under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) 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.
In order to access the health coverage, people need to register on the PM-JAY 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.
Making health cover universal over the age of 70 is very significant as India’s population ages. 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.
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 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 railway personnel.
Can those covered under other health schemes avail this scheme?
Those covered under existing government health schemes will have the option of choosing either Ayushman Bharat or continuing with their existing coverage.
People who are covered under the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC), however, will be eligible to have both their existing cover and Ayushman Bharat. This is because premiums for ESIC are paid by the insured and their employer, not the government. People who have their own privately purchased insurance cover will be eligible to have the Ayushman Bharat cover as well.
Members over the age of 70 years in families already covered in accordance with their economic status will get a top-up cover of Rs 5 lakh — to be used only for the elderly. These elderly beneficiaries will have to re-register to receive the top-up cover
The initial outlay from the Centre for the expansion of the scheme will be Rs 3,437 crore. This will cover the costs for the six months in the current financial year and all of next year, officials said.
Experts have estimated the cost of expanding the coverage to all persons over 70 years would be higher than that for covering the poorest 40 per cent across all age groups.
