Govt to send Modi's customised letters to beneficiaries of Ayushman Bharat

Beneficiaries of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat insurance programme in Jharkhand, from where Narendra Modi will roll out the flagship scheme on Sunday, have been sent a two-page customised letter from the prime minister outlining the importance and benefits of the project.

The government will send similar letters to 107.4 million beneficiary families across the country gradually. The letters will have a photograph of Modi, a government official said.

"Around 5.7 million families in Jharkhand are expected to receive letters by Sunday morning," the official said.

The letter mentions that the beneficiary family can avail of the scheme in hospitals in their area and health facilities empanelled under the scheme across the country.

"I hope you will receive complete treatment without the need to worry about the expense and without any hassles," the letter states.

Through the Ayushman Bharat-National Health Protection Scheme, renamed Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan, the government aims to provide a coverage of Rs 500,000 per family annually to more than 100 million poor households.

The scheme will target poor and deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban workers' families, 80.3 million in rural and 23.3 million in urban areas, as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data, and will cover around 500 million people.

The entitlement is being decided on the basis of deprivation criteria in the SECC database. The beneficiaries are identified based on the deprivation categories (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D7) identified under the SECC database for rural areas.

For urban areas, the 11 occupational criteria will determine entitlement. In addition, Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna beneficiaries in states where it is active are also included.

There is no cap on family size and age in the scheme, ensuring that nobody is left out.

As many as 31 states and Union territories have signed MoUs with the Centre and will implement the programme over the next two months, after its launch on Sunday.

Remaining states and UTs - Telangana, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab - have not signed, so the scheme will not be implemented in those states till they come on board.