Ayushman Bharat allocation almost unchanged at Rs 9,500 crore

Centre has allocated Rs 9,500 crore for health insurance scheme under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), raising the FY27 outlay by a marginal 1 percent as against the Budget Estimate of Rs 9,406 crore for FY26.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has allocated Rs 9,500 crore to Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), raising the FY27 outlay for the health insurance scheme by a percent against the budget estimate of Rs 9,406 crore for FY26.

Currently, 12 crore families are covered under the scheme. Several states and UTs implementing the programme have further expanded the beneficiary base, at their own cost, the government said.

West Bengal is the only state which has not adopted the healthcare plan.

Around 42.48 crore Ayushman Cards have been created till December 1 under the scheme which was launched in 2018.

A total of 10.98 crore hospital admissions amounting to Rs. 1.60 lakh crore authorised under the scheme.

The Ayushman Bharat scheme was launched in September 2018 by Prime Minister Modi as part of the National Health Policy 2017 and has grown to be largest health insurance scheme in the world.

It aims to provide an annual health coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation across public and private-empanelled hospitals.

During the last Budget, Sitharaman said gig workers would be provided healthcare under the flagship healthcare scheme.

NITI Aayog defines gig workers as those who are employed 'outside the traditional employer-employee arrangement'. These workers broadly fall into two categories - platform and non-platform-based workers.