Ayushman Bharat Scheme – How it works?

Government of India has bestowed the people of India with the world’s largest government-funded healthcare scheme. Ayushman Bharat Scheme, also known as Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, promises to provide a reimbursement of up to rupees 5 lakhs per year to almost 10 crore families living in the rural and urban areas of the country. Under the scheme, the government will cover the medical expenses of all the people belonging to the unprivileged section of society. The giant healthcare program will cover the pre and post hospitalization expenses of a person and their family members. Moreover, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana not only focuses on providing free medication to the people but it is also bound to establish Health and Wellness Centers across India. This newly built scheme has already gained a huge popularity only after a couple of months of its launch. Therefore, it isn’t strange if you also want to understand how to enroll for Ayushman Bharat Scheme.

Though there is no enrolling process for this scheme, there are some eligibility criteria for availing the benefits. Only the deprived households, as stated in the SECC database, are eligible for Ayushman Bharat Scheme. To start with, people belonging to one of the six deprived sections (D1, D2, D3, D4, D5, and D7) will be given Asyushman Bharat Card by the government. A person can use this card at any empanelled private or public hospital and get the treatment for free. The government has kept this service cashless and paperless. Every impaneled hospital under this scheme has a team of members known as ‘Aarogya Mitras’ responsible for verifying the beneficiary’s identity. Help-desks have been set up in the hospitals for carrying out all the works related to this scheme. On arrival to a hospital, a person can directly move to the help desk and submit their documents. No registration is to be done for availing this scheme. A person can get the Ayushman Bharat Card only after getting their documents verified at the help-desk. A person must pay attention to the following facts in order to avail this scheme without any difficulty:

·         Only the deprived households of rural areas and some categories of laborers in urban areas are covered under this scheme.

·         People belonging outside the six deprivation sections, as mentioned by SECC, are excluded from the scheme.

·         The beneficiary doesn’t need to pay anything for the treatment and medication. 

·         The identification of the beneficiary will be done in the hospital itself by ‘Aarogya Mitras’.

·         People already present in the list of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana are automatically included in this scheme.

The main objective of launching such gigantic scheme is to reduce the burden of upfront hospitalization expense from the shoulders of common people. Healthcare and education system are two main pillars of any nation and play a vital role in its development. With Pradhan Mantri Jan Arrogya Yojana functioning, the country will definitely witness a significant decline in health-related issues.