Why in news?

While releasing its election manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a prominent political party promised to expand its Ayushman Bharat Health Insurance scheme to cover senior citizens.

What’s in today’s article?

• Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY)
• Need for health insurance scheme for senior citizens

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PMJAY)

• About
  • Launched in September 2018, the scheme covers over nearly 40% of the population targeted towards poorest and the vulnerable.
    • It was launched as a second component of the ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme.
  • It aimed to offer medical coverage of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to poor and vulnerable families.
• Eligibility
  • Earlier, the scheme targeted to cover 10.74 crore poor, deprived rural families and identified occupational category of urban worker’s families.
  • However, states implementing AB-PMJAY have broadened their reach to encompass 13.44 crore families (65 crore people).
  • The beneficiaries are identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
• Performance
  • 
• Benefits
  • It provides cashless access to Health Benefit Packages which covers surgery, medical and day care treatments, cost of medicines and diagnostics.

Ayushman Bharat for senior citizens - Need

• Ageing population
  • India is reaping the benefits of the demographic dividend at present. However, the declining fertility rate and increasing life expectancy mean that India’s population is growing old.
  • Only 8.6% of the country’s population was over the age of 60 years at the time of the previous census in 2011, this proportion is expected to increase to 19.5% by 2050.
    • In terms of absolute numbers, the population over the age of 60 years will nearly triple from 103 million in 2011 to 319 million in 2050.
  • The aging population will mean increased expenditure on health and long-term care, labour force shortages, public dissaving, and old-age income insecurity.
  • The senior citizens live with the highest burden of chronic health conditions and their complications, the cost of health is higher for them.
• Low insurance coverage
  • As perthe India Ageing Report 2023,just over 20% of people over the age of 60 years are covered under health schemes such as Central Government Health Scheme, Employees State Insurance Scheme etc.
  • Coverage is higher in elderly men (19.7%) than elderly women (16.9%). There is not much rural-urban divide in the coverage, according to the report.
  • The India Ageing Report found that the main reasons for a lack of coverage in elderly are low awareness (52.9%) and non-affordability (21.6%).
• Diseases of the old
  • The elderly are not only affected by chronic, non-communicable diseases and their complications, they are also more prone to infectious diseases because of a weakened immune system.
• Analysis of the expenditure incurred by the govt under Ayushman Bharat
  • According to the official data, the government has incurred the most money for five key specialties under the scheme: cardiology, general medicine, general surgery, orthopedics, and medical and radiation oncology.
  • This data show that the government already is incurring most of the money in providing treatment that is predominantly required for the elderly population.