Health Ministry provides update on health insurance for senior citizens

The Government of India expanded the Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to provide free treatment benefits of up to 5 lakh per year on a family basis to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status on October 29, 2024.

In the latest national master of the Health Benefit Package (HBP) the scheme provides cashless healthcare services related to 1961 procedures across 27 medical specialties including General Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Cardiology, Oncology etc. which can be availed by different age groups. Among these, treatment services like Hemodialysis / Peritoneal Dialysis, Acute Ischemic Stroke, Accelerated hypertension, Total Hip Replacement, Total Knee Replacement, PTCA, inclusive of diagnostic angiogram, Single Chamber Permanent Pacemaker Implantation, Double Chamber Permanent Pacemaker Implantation etc. are available to eligible senior citizens as well. Further, States have been provided flexibility to further customize the Health Benefit Packages to local context.

The estimated number of beneficiary families aged 70 years and above across the country is 4.5 crore which corresponds to the 6 crore individuals under the scheme.

As on November 25, 2024, approximately 14 lakh Ayushman Vay Vandana cards have been created, for senior citizens aged 70 years and above beneficiaries under the scheme.

The total amount of Rs 3,437 crore expenditure is estimated, out of which Rs 2,165 crore in the central share expenditure is likely to be incurred during the Financial Year 2024-25 and 2025-26, for the said scheme. As of October 31, 2024, a total of 29,870 hospitals are empanelled out of which 13,173 are private hospitals.

The Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Prataprao Jadhav stated this in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.