Centre to add 270 mn additional beneficiaries to Ayushman Bharat by Jan 26

To reach its target of including 550 million people, the government plans to cover 270 million additional beneficiaries in just over a month

The Centre is gearing up to cover all the targeted beneficiaries of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) by January 26, a monumental job given that it entails bringing 270 million more people into the fold of its flagship health scheme, reported LiveMint.

The plan is part of the new guidelines provided to all central ministries and agencies in charge of various welfare schemes to speed up the "saturation" of beneficiaries, which means covering all intended individuals.

Over 280 million people have an Ayushman card, which entitles the holder – someone living below the poverty line — to access quality healthcare. The government's goal is to cover at least 550 million people, leaving a large gap of at least 270 million people to close in just over a month.

“It is an opportunity for us to achieve saturation within the set deadline rather than a pre-election agenda. Several communications are sent to states/UTs every day. They have been asked to devise daily targets for Ayushman card creation and strive to achieve the same by deploying all resources," an official familiar with the subject told LiveMint.

Over 100 million families, according to the official, have at least one Ayushman card, with each individual in a beneficiary family entitled to one. The state with the most Ayushman cards (46 million) is Uttar Pradesh, followed by Madhya Pradesh (37 million), Gujarat (20 million), Chhattisgarh (20 million), and Maharashtra (19 million).

“The growing use of Ayushman cards has led to a significant increase in hospitalisation. According to the National Statistical Office, it is now approaching 3.16 percent hospitalisation per 100,000 beneficiaries this fiscal year, which is higher than the national average of 2.9 percent," said the official.

Rs 1 trillion saved in five years by Ayushman Bharat scheme

In October this year, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) stated that the Ayushman Bharat scheme has helped save at least Rs 1 trillion in treatment costs in the five years since its inception in 2018.

“More than Rs 5.7 crore worth cashless treatments have been provided and 254 million beneficiary cards have been generated under the AB-PMJAY,” a document from the health ministry read.

Under AB-PMJAY, the world’s largest public health protection scheme, health coverage of Rs 500,000 per beneficiary family per annum is provided to at least 600 million beneficiaries who are identified based on select deprivation and occupational criteria.

The scheme is designed to provide financial risk protection against catastrophic health expenditure and is implemented in insurance or trust or mixed mode as decided by states.