Free hospitalisation benefits worth Rs 90,204 crore have been provided to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri-Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) since the scheme was rolled out, according to the latest official data.
More than 68.62 million people have so far benefited from the scheme, which offers Rs 5,00,000-a-year free health cover. The scheme has been made available for 107 million poor households in the country since September 2018, roughly covering the bottom 40% of the population.
PM-JAY has played a pivotal role in reducing out-of-pocket expenditures which used to push millions into poverty earlier. When the scheme was launched, an estimated 62% of healthcare costs were borne out of pocket pushing millions of Indians into poverty every year.
People from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat were the top beneficiaries under the scheme.
Under PMJAY, close to 2,000 procedures are available for beneficiaries to get cashless treatment which includes all the costs related to treatment, medicines, supplies, diagnostic services, physician’s fees, room charges, surgeon charges, OT & ICU charges, etc.
The top speciality care treatments availed by beneficiaries to date are general medicine, infectious diseases, general surgery, medical oncology, ophthalmology and orthopaedics.
Among the procedures availed by the people, are hemodialysis, screening for Covid-19, multiple packages and acute febrile illness.
More than 353.4 million Ayushman Cards have been issued to beneficiaries so far. As many as 30,357 public and private hospitals are empanelled under the scheme.
Considering that many people in the country are just one medical bill away from slipping into poverty, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance recently recommended that the PM-JAY scheme be extended to the ‘missing middle’ on a paid basis.
According to a Niti Aayog report unveiled in October 2021, at least 30% of the population, or 400 million individuals – called the missing middle in this report – are devoid of any financial protection for health.
