Delhi expands Ayushman cover to widows, disabled people: Check details

Delhi expands Ayushman Bharat scheme to provide a critical financial safety net against rising healthcare costs for 550,000 families

The Delhi government will provide public health insurance to widows and people with disabilities, reducing out-of-pocket medical expenses for vulnerable households in the national capital.

 

Delhi’s cabinet approved the inclusion under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), the central government’s flagship public health insurance programme, according to PTI.

 

Help for vulnerable families

 

The decision will bring nearly 397,000 women and 131,000 disabled people under the Ayushman Bharat framework. Their family members will also be eligible for cashless hospital treatment benefits.

 

This expansion is expected to add around 550,000 new families to Delhi’s health protection net, over and above those already covered under welfare categories such as:

 

Antyodaya Anna Yojana households

 

Priority ration card holders

 

Senior citizens aged above 70 years

 

ASHA workers

 

Anganwadi workers and helpers

 

For low-income households, hospitalisation costs often remain one of the biggest financial shocks. Inclusion under PM-JAY can therefore act as a critical financial safeguard against medical debt.

 

Why this matters for personal finances

 

Healthcare inflation in India continues to outpace general inflation, making serious illness a major risk to household savings. Government-funded schemes such as PM-JAY provide cashless treatment coverage at empanelled hospitals, reducing the need to dip into savings or borrow for medical emergencies.

 

For beneficiaries already dependent on social assistance pensions, even a single hospitalisation episode can destabilise finances. Expanded eligibility effectively shifts a large portion of treatment risk from households to the public insurance system.

 

Coverage and hospital network

 

Delhi has so far issued over 723,000 Ayushman cards, including more than 274,000 cards to senior citizens, PTI reported.

 

To operationalise the scheme, 209 hospitals have been empanelled — 156 private and 53 government facilities.

 

More than 29,000 beneficiaries have already received treatment under PM-JAY through the State Health Agency in Delhi.

 

Bigger push towards financial protection

 

The Delhi government said the expansion aims to ensure that economically vulnerable residents are not denied treatment due to financial constraints.

 

Wider public health insurance coverage reduces catastrophic medical spending, one of the primary reasons Indian families fall into debt or poverty.

 

As healthcare costs rise, such targeted inclusion measures increasingly function not just as welfare support, but as income protection tools for financially fragile households, particularly those without private health insurance coverage.