On Independence Day, PM announces roll-out of Ayushman Bharat on 25 Sept

Ayushman Bharat, or Modicare, the Centre’s mega health insurance scheme for the underprivileged, will be formally launched across the country on September 25 — the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya. Making the announcement in his Independence Day speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduced Ayushman Bharat as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan (Prajaa).

The Ayushman team will need to ensure foolproof technology network over the next 40 days to connect the many pieces in the health care universe, including hospitals, beneficiaries and common service centres. It’s a challenge to meet the deadline, an official said.  

But the directions from the highest authority are clear. As the PM said in his speech, testing of the technology backbone will begin now and go on till the countrywide launch. The focus on technology is extremely high in this case so that GST-like software glitches don’t repeat, according to a source. The software testing and the pilots will also have to take into account the model that a state chooses — insurance or trust or mix format. Most states are opting for the trust model, but there are some favouring the other two as well.  

While six to seven states started the pilot for Ayushman on Wednesday itself soon after the PM’s announcement, a total of 14 are ready to test out the software over the next one month or so ahead of the countrywide launch on September 25, an official said. More states are expected to join the pilot in the run up to the mega launch.

‘’We will like all states to launch by September 25 and all of them to test the software in real time,’’ an official said. Therefore, all states will have a pilot or a trial run in some form at some stage before September 25, he added. 

     

To begin with, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Gujarat and a few others have started the pilot. ‘’The beneficiary base is ready in these states. The socio-economic caste census (SECC) has been used to identify the beneficiaries,’’ the official quoted above said.  

It is learnt that 47 per cent of the hospitals that have empanelled are from the private sector. Around 7,000 hospitals are already on board. While rates for procedures have been fixed, a committee has been set up to revise the rates of certain procedures like C-section deliveries. Many hospitals have been unhappy about some of the package rates. The Ayushman Bharat team is working with reputed doctors to fine-tune the scheme. 

Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Scheme will provide cashless insurance to poor families up to Rs 500,000. The scheme covers 1,354 medical and surgical packages under 25 specialties. Benefits include hospitalisation expenses in general ward, consultation fees, equipment and procedure charges and cost of consumables as well as tests, food for patients, pre-and post-hospitalisation. For multiple surgeries, the highest package rate will be waived for the first treatment, while there will be a 50 per cent and 25 per cent subsidy for second and third treatment. 

 While initially Aadhaar will not be compulsory for identification, families availing of the scheme need to make sure they have Aadhaar registration by the time of their second visit to health care facilities, according to information available with the health ministry.

 The ongoing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) will get merged with the Ayushman scheme once it launches. RSBY provided insurance up to Rs 30,000 to poor families.