New Delhi, November 13 (IANS). More than five lakh senior citizens aged 70 years and above have been enrolled for Ayushman cards since the expansion of ‘Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana’ (AB-PMJAY).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi two weeks ago launched the ‘Ayushman Vaya Vandana Card’, which provides free health coverage to all senior citizens above 70 years of age, regardless of their income. It was approved by the Union Cabinet in September.
This is in addition to the existing AB PM-JAY Parivar Yojana, in which senior citizens will get a separate cover of Rs 5 lakh per year.
A report citing National Health Authority data said that 5,12,598 requests have been received for enrollment under the scheme. Of these, 4,64,541 were approved, while 47,916 are pending. 141 requests have been rejected.
Madhya Pradesh received the highest number of applications for enrollment (1.66 lakh), followed by Kerala (1.28 lakh), Uttar Pradesh (69,044) and Gujarat (25,491).
An official was quoted as saying, “We have shared information, education, communication material with all the states. We are confident that as people become aware of this, their numbers will increase.”
The objective of this scheme is to potentially provide benefits of this scheme to about six crore individuals from 4.5 crore families.
This scheme will prove to be extremely beneficial, because it is estimated that India’s elderly population will double by 2050. Eligible beneficiaries can apply for Ayushman Bharat Senior Citizens Scheme using www.beneficiary.nha.gov.in or Ayushman App.
AB PM-JAY, the world’s largest publicly funded health insurance scheme, was launched in 2018 to provide health cover to about 55 crore people from more than 12 crore poor and vulnerable families.
–IANS
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