Budget 2024: Insurance cover under Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme likely to be doubled
insurance cover under its flagship Ayushman Bharat health scheme to Rs 10 lakh to ensure that serious diseases like cancer and transplants that entail more expenditure are supported by it, official sources said on Wednesday. An announcement to this effect is likely to be made in the interim Union Budget on February 1, the sources told PTI.
The Union health ministry is also planning to double the beneficiaries to 100 crore under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) to include Kisan Samman Nidhi recipients, construction workers, non-coal mine workers and ASHA workers in the next three years.
«In order to ensure that serious illnesses requiring expenditure of more than Rs 5 lakh such as transplants and high-cost cancer treatments etc. are also covered under AB PMJAY, the ministry is working on finalising a proposal to increase the cover amount from Rs 5 lakh per family per year to Rs 10 lakh per family per year from 2023-24 onwards,» the sources said.
The increase in coverage to Rs 10 lakh per family per year and increase in beneficiary base to 100 crore individuals will involve an additional allocation of Rs 12,076 crore per annum, the sources stated.
Paving the way for Global South development through bold Union Budget initiatives
Budget recap: Tax tweaks and other key policy changes FM Nirmala Sitharaman made last year
Is separate tax deduction for life insurance premium on cards?
Budget may allot Rs 4 lakh crore for food, fertiliser subsidies
The scheme has successfully catered to 6.2 crore hospital admissions amounting to more than Rs 79,157 crore till now since its launch in 2018.
If the beneficiary had availed the same treatment on his own outside the ambit of AB
