2024-09-14 09:17:31
New Delhi : Modi government has given a big gift to senior citizens. The cabinet has approved to extend the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) and provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh to all senior citizens aged 70 years and above. How will the senior citizens benefit from this? How will this scheme work? What will happen if someone already has a health cover? What will happen if the senior citizen’s family is already covered under Ayushman Bharat? Let us know the answers to all such questions. But first of all, let’s talk about the importance of this step of the government. Truly, in today’s era, the lucky one is the one who is saved from serious diseases. Whose family is saved from this. The reason is the cost of treatment. So expensive that it can push even a good family into poverty. When the Modi government launched the world’s largest public health insurance scheme Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), it was a big gift for the poor and middle-class. Under this scheme, the families covered under the scheme get a health cover of Rs 5 lakh annually. Currently, 55 crore people from 12.34 crore families in the country are covered under it. Now the government has expanded its scope and included all the elderly above 70 years of age in it, irrespective of their financial status. Now the answers to those questions that may come to your mind regarding this.
All senior citizens aged 70 years and above will get its benefit.
Around 6 crore senior citizens will benefit under this scheme.
In such a situation, the elderly will get an additional top up of Rs 5 lakh. This will be for him and only, which will not be shared with other family members. Under the Ayushman Yojana, the eligible family gets a total health cover of Rs 5 lakh annually.
If there is more than one senior citizen above 70 years of age in a family, then they will have to share the health insurance of Rs 5 lakh.
Such senior citizens who are already availing the benefits of any government health insurance scheme such as Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS), Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), Ayushman Central Armed Police Force (ACAPF) etc., will have to choose between that scheme and AB-PMJAY. If they want, they can continue the government health insurance they are already availing, but in that case they will not get the benefit of AB-PMJAY.
Even if an elderly person has taken a private health insurance plan, he will still get the benefit of AB-PMJAY scheme.
The government will initially spend Rs 3,437 crore on this scheme. However, as the demand for this scheme increases i.e. the number of elderly people increases, its coverage will also be increased in the same proportion. The English newspaper Indian Express has quoted sources as saying that the central government will bear 90 percent of the cost of this scheme in the hilly and northeastern states. In the remaining states, the center will bear 60 percent of the cost and the state will bear 40 percent.
This scheme will end the worries of the elderly about their health. According to the 2011 census, there were 7.7 crore elderly people above the age of 60 years in the country, which was 7.5 percent of the total population of the country. According to the Annual Action Plan (2022-23) for the elderly of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the number of senior citizens in 2021 was around 14 crore and their share in the population was above 10 percent. According to the Longitudinal Aging Study India (LSAI), by 2050, the population of elderly people above 60 years of age in the country can be 19.5 percent of the total population. It is clear that the number of elderly people will increase rapidly in the coming years. In such a situation, this scheme will provide them great relief.