The Union government’s flagship health insurance scheme, which turned eight on Wednesday has benefited at least 600 million people since launch, according to data from the Union ministry of health and family welfare.
“Eight years ago, Ayushman Bharat was rolled out with the idea that every Indian should have access to top-quality and affordable health care. The health ministry’s statement described Ayushman Bharat as “ the world’s largest publicly funded health assurance scheme. Prime minister Narendra Modi also posted a message on social media commemorating eight years of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY), which was launched in 2018. Today, more than 60 crore (600 million) beneficiaries have access to Rs. 5 lakh annual health cover, making it the largest health care scheme in the world,” he said on X. The National Health Authority (NHA), which is the nodal authority responsible for implementation of the scheme, is working on Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (AB-PMJAY) 2.0 that focuses on scalability and deeper digital integration, according to an earlier health ministry statement.
In a separate post on X, Union health minister, JP Nadda, said that the significance of thee scheme went beyond statistics, pointing to families protected from the burden of medical expenses and patients receiving timely treatment without the fear of financial hardship. “From expanding healthcare access to reducing financial barriers to treatment, Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY stands as a landmark of India’s commitment to ensuring affordable and accessible healthcare for all,” said the health ministry.
“Initial years were good but later, as scope of the scheme increased, funding issues started cropping up. The scheme needs a review in terms of over lay, package rates, and expanding target population. At the moment, it isn’t very lucrative for the private sector hospitals.
The money usually isn’t reimbursed in the mandated 15 to 30 day period; and may take up to three to four months also.
The policy makers need to start serious dialogues with the serving hospitals,” said Dr Rakesh Gupta, member, Association of Healthcare Providers of India (Chhattisgarh chapter).
