The government's big gift to grandparents, now people above 70 years of age will get 'Ayushman Bharat' insurance
A big decision was taken in the meeting of the Union Cabinet held on Wednesday. Now every senior citizen above 70 years of age in the country will get the benefit of health insurance under the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme. Read full details
A major decision was taken in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday. Now every elderly person above 70 years of age in the country will get the benefit of 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana-Ayushman Bharat'. There will be no distinction between the poor and the rich, rather everyone will be brought under its ambit.
Giving information about the cabinet decisions, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that this will be a new category under the Ayushman Bharat scheme. Under this, the government will provide health insurance with free treatment facility of up to Rs 5 lakh to every senior citizen above 70 years of age.
This is how the plan will work for the elderly
Explaining the benefits of this scheme in detail, Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that this will be a universal health coverage for senior citizens above the age of 70 years. Currently, about 12.3 crore families are getting the benefit of Ayushman Bharat Yojana. About 4.5 crore families or say 6 crore senior citizens will get the benefit of the facility started for the elderly.
Families who are already a part of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, if even one member of their family is above 70 years of age, they will get an additional top-up of up to Rs 5 lakh per year. This will be a shared health cover.
Families which are not currently covered under the Ayushman Bharat scheme, senior citizens above 70 years of age will be included in it and they will get a shared cover of Rs 5 lakh per year.
In this category of Ayushman Bharat, if there is a couple above 70 years of age, then the insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh will be the same for both. Everyone will get the benefit of this, be it middle class or upper class.
Government employees will also get the option to choose
Not only this, the elderly who are covered under any health scheme of the Central Government or State Government (CGHS/SGHS) or the health scheme of the Army, all of them will get the option to stay with their old scheme or choose this cover of Ayushman Bharat. The elderly who have Employee State Insurance Scheme (ESCI) or private health insurance will also get a chance to join Ayushman Bharat.
People will get the benefit of this scheme for free. However, for this, the government will request all the elderly to take insurance and the application process for this will start soon. The government has made an initial provision of Rs 3,437 crore for this category.
These decisions were also taken in the cabinet meeting
Many other important decisions were also taken in the cabinet meeting. The government has set a target of 31,350 MW power generation through hydropower.
The government will spend Rs 12,461 crore on this. Not only this, to promote the use of electric vehicles in the country, the government will now launch a new scheme 'PM E-Drive Yojana'. A provision of Rs 10,900 crore has been made for this.
'PM E-Drive Yojana' (PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement) will replace the FAME subsidy scheme which was in operation for about 9 years in the country.
The benefit of this new scheme will be available on the purchase of 24.79 lakh electric two-wheelers, 3.16 lakh e-three-wheelers and 14,028 e-buses. Under the new scheme, 88,500 charging stations will also get help from the government.