Interim Budget 2024-25: The Centre proposes increasing the insurance coverage under its flagship Ayushman Bharat health initiative from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. According to news agency PTI, the government intends to cover major conditions such as cancer and transplants, which require more financial support. According to sources in the Union Health Ministry, an announcement in this regard would be made in the interim Union Budget on February 1.
"To ensure that serious illnesses requiring the expenditure of more than Rs 5 lakh such as transplants and high-cost cancer treatments etc. are also covered under AB PMJAY, the ministry is working on finalising a proposal to increase the cover amount from Rs 5 lakh per family per year to Rs 10 lakh per family per year from 2023-24 onwards," a government official said.
In the next three years, the health ministry plans to double the number of beneficiaries to 100 crore under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) and expand the benefits to Kisan Samman Nidhi recipients, construction workers, non-coal mine workers, and ASHA workers.
Currently, the health insurance coverage provides Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
Ayushman Bharat, which debuted in September 2018, is part of the National Health Policy 2017. Its primary goal is to guarantee universal health coverage. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, or PM-JAY, is recognised as the world's largest health-care programme under Ayushman Bharat.
According to government figures, the scheme currently serves 55 crore people, which equates to 12 crore families. Furthermore, several states and union territories that have implemented AB PM-JAY have independently increased the number of recipients, incurring the cost themselves.
Further. as per the government figures, as of December 20, 2023, roughly 28.45 crore Ayushman Cards had been issued since the programme's launch. Of this sum, around 9.38 crore Ayushman Cards were generated in 2023 alone.
The Centre would require an additional allocation of Rs 12,076 crore per year to provide Rs 10 lakh coverage per family per year and to increase the beneficiary population to 100 crore individuals, according to the official estimate. Currently, the budget for Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY for FY2023-24 is Rs 7,200 crore. This is estimated to quadruple to almost Rs 15,000 crore by the fiscal year 2025.
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In the Union Budget 2023, the budget allotted to the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), the national public health insurance fund, was increased by 12% to Rs 7,200 crore from Rs 6,000 crore revised projections for FY2022-23.
