Datanomics: 51% Ayushman Bharat beneficiaries treated aged 45 and above

Under PM-JAY, an Ayushman card is also issued to facilitate cashless and paperless access to eligible beneficiaries to avail quality medical services and benefits

India will mark Ayushman Bharat Day on April 30 to raise awareness about the scheme that provides ₹5-lakh coverage per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. The scope of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was expanded on October 29, 2024 to include all senior citizens aged 70 years and above, irrespective of their socio-economic status.

 

Hospital admissions

 

Data accessed from the Ayushman Bharat portal suggested that over half of those admitted in the authorised hospitals for treatment under the scheme were aged 45 and above. And over 44 per cent of such admissions belonged to the people in the age group of 15-44. 

 

Cards issued

 

A maximum of 28 per cent Ayushman cards have been issued to people aged between 15 and 29 years, followed by 27 per cent for the age group of 30-44 years. Then 22 per cent to people aged between 45-59. 60 years and above have got 15 per cent of the total share of Ayushman cards. 

 

    States getting maximum benefit

 

Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajasthan were the top three states in terms of number of authorised hospital admissions with 9.04 million, 6.6 million and 5.74 million respectively. West Bengal is the only state where the scheme is not implemented, after Odisha and Delhi came on board recently.

 

Interestingly, of the 36,118 empanelled hospitals under the scheme, 90 per cent of the hospitals had a bed strength of 100 or below and 80 per cent of the hospitals had a bed strength of 50 or below.

 

 

The Economic Survey 2024-25 credited PM-JAY in playing a decisive role in significantly reducing out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) through an increase in social security and primary health expenditure, with over ₹1.25 trillion in savings recorded.

 

India’s OOPE, as a percentage of total health expenditure (THE), declined from 62.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 48.2 per cent in 2018-19, the year when Ayushman Bharat was launched. Since then, it has dropped down further to 39.4 per cent in 2021-22. Such reduction in OOPE has gone hand-in-hand with increased public spending in healthcare from 29 per cent of THE in 2014-15 to 48 per cent in 2021-22.

 

Ayushman Bharat has been pivotal in bringing healthcare to the impoverished. However, the health infrastructure and the flagship initiative need to be scaled up further to reach every nook and corner of our country to realise the vision of universal health coverage.