Tamil Nadu tops list in AB-PMJAY beneficiaries; 125.7 million families enrolled all over India

Tamil Nadu has topped the list in the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in beneficiary enrolment. As of July 23, the state enrolled 15.7 million families. This was followed by Madhya Pradesh that enrolled 12.8 million families.

The total number of beneficiaries enrolled under PMJAY is 125.7 million families as of July 23 (includes extensions of AB-PMJAY). This includes 107.4 million identified families entitled for AB-PMJAY as per the SECC database.

The scheme, which was launched in September 2018, may have already reached its target of reaching 500 million in India just within 10 months.

Responding to a question in the Lok Sabha, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said that, under AB- PMJAY, states were free to add additional families at their own cost.

As on July 23, the scheme enrolled 16,039 hospitals, including 8,059 private hospitals and 7,980 public hospitals.

Under this scheme, also referred to as Ayushman Bharat or Modicare, the government aims to provide a health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh to 500 million Indians free of cost. This includes families from lower income groups that fall under the socio-economic caste census (SECC) data of 2011.

States can implement PMJAY either through the insurance route or the trust route or both. The states implementing the scheme through the insurance mode select the insurance companies through an open tender process.

The states implementing the scheme through the trust mode may engage Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) and Implement Support Agencies (ISAs) through an open tender process for implementing the scheme.

The government is also looking to crack down on fraudulent activities and will also impose penalties on hospitals or insurers in indulging in malpractices.