The Health Ministry had recently informed that soon the Ayushman card will be co-branded with the state logo and name of state-specific health schemes as well as the flagship health scheme of the Centre.
Key Points
- This step has been taken by the government to reduce the confusion among the citizens so that they know exactly which schemes are applicable for them. According to the Ministry of Health, at present, about 20 schemes are being run by many states.
- Currently, except Delhi, Odisha and West Bengal, all other states and union territories have agreed to co-brand the cards. After this co-branding, their joint name will be changed to ‘Ayushman Card’.
- The card will be bilingual in English and the local language.
- Under the new arrangement, eligible beneficiaries of any government insurance scheme will be able to avail this coverage in any of the 25,000 hospitals empaneled under the central scheme. The central government will provide a cover of ₹5 lakh, and beyond that individual states are free to add to the insurance package.
- According to the Health Ministry, about 188.1 million persons have been verified under the scheme till August 17, 2022, out of which updated Ayushman cards have been issued to 141.2 million people.
Ayushman Bharat PMJAY
The Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana is a component of the umbrella health scheme (Ayushman Bharat). It was launched in 2018 as the largest health insurance scheme in world to be funded by a government. It was earlier known as the National Health Protection Mission. It covers the expenses for secondary and many tertiary health care services.
PM-JAY scheme would provide poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational categories of urban workers’ families as per the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data (approx. 50 crore beneficiaries) with health benefit cover of Rs Five Lakhs per family per year at free of cost. The health benefits under the scheme include more than 1,350 medical packages covering surgery, medical and daycare treatments, cost of medicines and diagnostics.