Budget 2024: Ayushman Bharat coverage could be doubled, insurance limits may be increased

The Centre could also increase the insurance coverage to ₹10 lakh per year in the Union Budget 2024, PTI reported.

The government may double beneficiary base under its flagship Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme over the next three years starting with all those aged above 70 years to be brought under its ambit. The Centre could also increase the insurance coverage to ₹10 lakh per year in the Union Budget 2024, PTI reported citing official sources in the know. The proposal would entail an additional expenditure of ₹12,076 crore per annum for the exchequer as per estimates prepared by the National Health Authority, the report added.

Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is seen. Centre may increase the insurance coverage to ₹10 lakh per year in the Union Budget 2024. (PTI)

Sources told PTI, "Discussions are happening to double the beneficiary base under the AB-PMJAY over the next three years, which, if implemented, will cover more than two-third population of the country with health cover. Deliberations are also underway over finalising a proposal to double the limit of the coverage amount from the existing ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh," they said.

In the Interim Budget 2024, the government increased the allocation for the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which provides health cover of ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization to 12 crore families, to ₹7,200 crore. At the same time, Centre assigned ₹646 crore for the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM).

The NITI Aayog, in its report titled 'Health Insurance for India's Missing Middle' published in October 2021, suggested extending the scheme saying that about 30 percent of the population is devoid of health insurance. The AB-PMJAY flagship scheme towards Universal Health Coverage, and state government extension schemes provides comprehensive hospitalisation cover to the bottom 50 per cent of the population. Around 20 per cent of the population is covered through social health insurance, and private voluntary health insurance primarily designed for high-income groups.

The missing middle is not a monolith -“ it contains multiple groups across all expenditure quintiles. The missing middle predominantly constitutes the self-employed (agriculture and non-agriculture) informal sector in rural areas, and a broad array of occupations -- informal, semi-formal, and formal -- in urban areas, the report said.