The scheme promises to provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year. (Photo for representation) The scheme promises to provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year. (Photo for representation)

The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday approved the launch of the Ayushman Bharat or National Health Protection Mission, which was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in this year’s Budget. The scheme promises to provide health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year.

“The target beneficiaries of the proposed scheme will be more than 10 crore families belonging to poor and vulnerable population based on SECC database. The scheme will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes – Rashtriya Swasthya BimaYojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS),” according to a statement released by PIB.

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The scheme will also include pre- and post-hospitalisation expenses. All pre-existing conditions will be covered from day one of the policy. A defined transport allowance per hospitalisation will also be paid to the beneficiary. Benefits of the scheme will be portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under Ayushman Bharat will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private empanelled hospitals across the country.

The different categories of households in rural areas eligible for the scheme include families having only one room with kucha walls and kucha roof; families having no adult members between age 16 to 59; households headed by females with no adult male member between age 16 to 59; disabled member and no able-bodied adult member in the family; SC/ST households and households deriving major part of their income from manual casual labour.

Also, families automatically included in the scheme in rural areas will need to match one of the following conditions: households without shelter, destitute, living on alms, manual scavenger families, primitive tribal groups, legally released bonded labour. For urban areas, there are 11 defined occupational categories that will be entitled under the scheme, the statement issued by PIB added.

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