Last updated: December 17th, 2019 5:07 PM

Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Ayushman Bharat Yojana is a 'National Health Protection Scheme' introduced by the Central Government of India in budget 2018. The Ayushman Bharat Yojana scheme will provide Rs. 5 lakh of health insurance coverage to poor families for the protection of their health. Through the Ayushman Bharat Yojana scheme, nearly 10 crore families will be benefited, which means that more than 50 crore people will be benefited from this scheme. In this article, we look at the features, eligibility criteria and enrollment procedures pertaining to the scheme.

Features of Ayushman Bharat Yojana

• This Yojana focuses on creating a health and wellness infrastructure, and extending insurance coverage to at least 40 percent of the Indian population.
• This NHPS scheme will overcome the flaw of the currently existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana scheme, which covers the unorganized sectors.
• This scheme offers Rs. 5 lakh to each eligible Indian families for their medical care.
• Enables the beneficiaries to avail cashless treatment facilities within the country from both private and government hospitals.
• Under this scheme, National health protection scheme will provide the cashless treatment to the patients.
• This scheme provides wellness centers to care for the patients. In future, the government will upgrade the public health centers into wellness centers.

Eligibility Criteria

The beneficiary should be included under the SECC 2011 data (socio-economic caste census), which was conducted across the  rural and urban of across the country. Socioeconomic caste census is a mechanism of counting and ranking under the various parameters, which are listed below:

• Literacy rates
• Median household income
• Poverty levels
• Nature of occupational profiles
• Predominant location
• Access to schooling
• Access to housing
• Sanitation, drinking water, and electricity
• Valid Aadhar card

Note:- The scheme does not mention the limitation of family size.

Required documents

The following documents must be furnished for registration:

• Aadhar ID linked with a valid bank account
• Respective special category certificates
• Age proof documents
• Family structure
• Identification details
• Contact information
• Scanned copy of Aadhar
• Income certificate
• Caste certificate

Implementation Phases

The scheme would be implemented on three phases. The government has decided to implement the first phase of the scheme on 2nd October 2018. The relevant documentation will be finalized and completed by the end of June, 2018.

Registration Procedure

The scheme was launched in the month of April this year, for which the registration procedures are yet to be released. The latest update from the Government is that the registration process will not incur any charges.