Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Ayushman Bharat Yojana, also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), is a healthcare initiative introduced by the Government of India. In simple terms, it is a health insurance scheme designed to provide financial protection and affordable healthcare to citizens. The scheme aims to cover vulnerable and economically deprived families, offering them access to quality medical services without the burden of high medical expenses. Ayushman Bharat Yojana is one of the world’s largest health assurance programs, ensuring that eligible individuals receive necessary medical treatment without facing financial hardships.

In this article, we will read about the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, its features, components, challenges, etc.

What is Ayushman Bharat Yojana?

To realize the goal of Universal Health Coverage, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the national project known as “Healthy India,” or Ayushman Bharat Scheme on 23rd September 2018. This effort has been planned to adhere to the SDGs and its core principle of “leaving no one behind.” Ayushman Bharat represents an effort to transition from a sectoral and segmented approach to the delivery of health services to a comprehensive need-based strategy. It offers primary healthcare to people and health insurance to qualifying beneficiaries.

Read More:

• Health Care in India
• Challenges faced by the Healthcare Facilities of India

Components of Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Ayushman Bharat consists of two interconnected components:

1. Health and Wellness Centers: The first part of the plan involves building 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centers, bringing healthcare closer to people’s homes. These facilities will offer Comprehensive Primary Health Care (CPHC), which includes free basic medications and diagnostic services and addresses non-communicable illnesses, maternity, and child health care.
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY): PMJAY is an important step toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal 3. It intends to give poor and disadvantaged families health protection coverage against financial risk brought on by catastrophic health episodes.

Need for the Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Here are the points explaining why there was a need for the Ayushman Bharat Yojana:

• Numerous sobering statistics about the nation’s healthcare system were revealed in the 71st round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).
• In rural areas, 86% of households lack access to health insurance, whereas, in urban areas, this number is 82%.
• More than 17% of the people in the nation spend at least 10 percent of their family income on health care.
• Sudden and severe health issues frequently put families in debt.
• To pay for their healthcare needs, borrowing is used by more than 19% of urban households and 24% of rural households.

Features of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana

The features of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana are as follows:

• It is the largest health insurance program in the world that is funded by the government.
• For secondary and tertiary care hospitalization in India’s public and private empaneled hospitals, it offers coverage of 5 lakhs per family per year.
• These benefits are available to around 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families or roughly 50 crore beneficiaries.
• In contrast to the previous medical insurance program, Ayushman Bharat does not have a waiting time for diseases that already exist. 
• The Ayushman Bharat policy begins with full coverage for all ailments.
• Pre- and post-hospitalization costs are covered under the program.
• The National Health Authority (NHA) is the nodal organisation in charge of implementing and rolling out the AB-PMJAY scheme across the country.
• The cost of premium payment will be split between the Central and State Governments according to a predetermined ratio.

Challenges of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana

The challenges faced by the Ayushman Bharat Yojana are mentioned below:

• The most pressing problem continues to be the scarce and unequal allocation of human resources throughout the spectrum of health services, with up to 40% of open positions for health workers in some states.
• Finding a basic treatment package for those who are covered by the NHPS at reasonable costs is made more difficult by the steadily expanding of the for-profit tertiary care sector.
• The nation’s failing public health system is not addressed by the NHPS programme, which primarily provides funding for clinical treatments like hospitalisation.
• If the shortage of human resources is not addressed, the public healthcare system will continue to provide subpar care that is most unacceptable, leading patients to seek care in the private sector. For the impoverished people that the plan is designed for, this will ultimately be unsustainable and even harmful.
• Even district hospitals are chronically low on specialists, as are the majority of basic healthcare facilities.

FAQs on Ayushman Bharat Yojana

1. What is Ayushman Bharat Yojana?

Ayushman Bharat Yojana is the largest health insurance program in the world that was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the goal of Universal Health Coverage. The cost of premium payment will be split between the Central and State Governments according to a predetermined ratio. 

2. What are the different components of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme?

Ayushman Bharat consists of two components:

1. Health and Wellness Centers — The first part of the plan involves building 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centers, bringing healthcare closer to people’s homes. 
2. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) – PMJAY is an important step toward achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal 3.

3. What are the key features of the Ayushman Bharat Scheme?

Key features of Ayushman Bharat Scheme are:

• It is the largest health insurance program in the world that is totally funded by the government.
• For secondary and tertiary care hospitalization in India’s public and private empaneled hospitals, it offers coverage of lakhs per family per year.
• In contrast to the previous medical insurance programmes, Ayushman Bharat does not have a waiting time for diseases that already exist. 
• The Ayushman Bharat policy begins with full coverage for all ailments. 
• The cost of premium payment will be split between the Central and State Governments according to a predetermined ratio.

4. What is the need for Ayushman Bharat Scheme?

Ayushman Bharat Scheme is needed in India because, in rural areas, 86% of households lack access to health insurance, whereas, in urban areas, this number is 82%. More than 17% of the people in the nation spend at least 10 percent of their family income on health care. In order to pay for their healthcare needs, borrowing is used by more than 19% of urban households and 24% of rural households.

5. How many beneficiaries are covered under Ayushman Bharat Scheme?

Under Ayushman Bharat Scheme around 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families, or roughly 50 crore beneficiaries are covered.