Introduction
Mr Arun Jaitley, former finance minister, announced a new initiative called the Ayushman Bharat Programme. Under this scheme, two major initiatives in the health sector were announced which are-
1. Establishment of centres for fitness and wellness.
2. Wide scheme to protect wellbeing.
Key points Ayushman Bharat scheme:
- Under Ayushman Bharat or National Health Protection Scheme, every qualifying family will receive an annual rs.5 lakh insurance premium
- Benefits under this scheme are not exclusive to any hospital or branch in question. The patient will benefit from any countrywide empanelled hospital. The patient can visit any public or private (empanelled) hospital for treatment.
- Cashless treatment facilities for the patient.
Good health care is essential for well being. But the large numbers of people in our country are fighting against various types of diseases. Financially sound people reach to the top-class private hospital and get rid of the health problem quiet easily. Yet there's a lot of the poor people have to fight. They don't have too much money to care in high-cost private clinics, they have to make financial plans and go to the government hospital for treatment.
Many time-poor people are unable to buy medicine because of the sky-high price of medicines and generally, it can be seen that in terms of good health, the state of poor people with respect to the poor is very poor. For a long time, it was felt the need for a policy that could benefit these people.
Features of Ayushman Bharat Scheme
âž² Under this scheme insurance coverage of Rs. 5 lakh will be given.
âž² The expected premium will be not more than 2000 per year out of which 60% premium will be borne by the Central government and 40% premium will be borne by State government.
âž² Approx 100 million poor families will be covered under this scheme.
The objective of Ayushman Bharat program 2018-2022
- Focus on the wellness of poor families.
- Providing medical benefits to poor families.
Establishing health and wellness centers at nearer distances, so that patients will not have to travel a long distance
Beneficiary of this scheme
For Rural:
• Complete deprived households targeted at PM-JAY belonging to one of D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D7's six deprivation criteria:
a. Only one room with kuccha walls and kuccha roof (D1)
b. No adult member between age 16 to 59 (D2)
c. Households completely handled by the female with no adult male member between age 16 to 59 (D3)
d. Disabled member and no able-bodied adult member (D4)
e. Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe households (D5)
f. Households without own land and the deriving major part of their income from manual casual labor (D7)
• Automatically included:
a. Households without shelter
b. Destitute/ living on alms
c. Manual scavenger families
d. Primitive tribal groups
e. Legally released bonded labor
For Urban:
The following occupational categories of workers are included:
• Ragpicker
• Beggar
• Domestic worker
• Other service provider working on streets like Street vendor/ Cobbler/hawker
• Security guard / Painter/ Welder/ Construction worker/ Plumber/ Mason/ Labour
• Coolie and another head-load worker
• Sweeper/ Sanitation worker / Mali
• Home-based worker/ Artisan/ Handicrafts worker / Tailor
• Helper to drivers and conductors/ cart puller/ Rickshaw puller Transport worker/ Driver/ Conductor
• Helper/Delivery assistant / Attendant/ Waiter Shop worker/ Assistant/ Peon in small establishment
• Electrician/ Mechanic/ Assembler/ Repair worker
• Washer-man/ Chowkidar
Ayushman Bharat yojana- two major health initiatives
Mr. Arun Jaitley has listed two major health sector initiatives under the Ayushman Bharat Program that could help to eradicate the problems that poor people face. Let's address all of these -
Health and wellness centers
Mr. Arun Jaitley Mentioned that centers "Health and Wellness" would be developed while explaining the Ayushman Bharat program. Such facilities provide quality healthcare. Free prescription and medical services will also be provided by these centers.
National Health Protection Scheme
The National Health Protection scheme is part of ayushman Bharat yojana. The national health insurance scheme will cover 10 deprived households, the crores. In this arrangement, the total number of beneficiaries would be 50 crores.
Medical coverage of Rs.5 lack per family, per year, will be given under this scheme. This is going to be the world’s largest government-funded health care scheme.