AB-PMJAY
What this is
AB PM-JAY is a health insurance scheme for low-income families in rural and urban areas. The scheme aims to provide affordable healthcare facilities to the Poor. It is the largest health assurance scheme in the world which aims at providing a health cover of ₹5,00,000/- per family per year.
In detail
The scheme “Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana” implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, aims to provide cashless hospitalisation coverage of ₹5,00,000 per family per year to poor and vulnerable families for secondary and tertiary healthcare services. It was launched on 23rd September 2018 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India.
"Ayushman Bharat" is an attempt to move from a sectoral and segmented approach to health service delivery to a comprehensive need-based health care service. This scheme aims to undertake path-breaking interventions to holistically address the healthcare system (covering prevention, promotion, and ambulatory care) at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. Ayushman Bharat adopts a continuum of care approach, comprising two interrelated components, which are -
- Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs): The scheme aims to provide comprehensive primary healthcare services, including maternal and child health, non-communicable disease care, free essential drugs, and diagnostics, close to people’s homes. The centres promote preventive healthcare and healthy behaviours to reduce the risk of chronic diseases.
- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY): The second component under Ayushman Bharat is the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna or PM-JAY as it is popularly known. It aims to provide cashless health insurance coverage of up to ₹5,00,000 per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalization to poor and vulnerable families.
Who qualifies
> Rural Beneficiaries
Out of the total seven deprivation criteria for rural areas, PM-JAY covered all such families who fall into at least one of the following six deprivation criteria and automatic inclusion(Destitute/ living on alms, manual scavenger households, primitive tribal group, legally released bonded labour) criteria:
- Only one room with kucha walls and kucha roof
- No adult member between ages 16 to 59
- Households with no adult male member between ages 16 to 59
- Disabled member and no able-bodied adult member
- SC/ST households
- Landless households deriving a major part of their income from manual casual labour
- Automatically includedHouseholds without shelter
- Destitute/ living on alms,
- Manual scavenger families,
- Primitive tribal groups,
- Legally released bonded labour.
> Urban Beneficiaries
For urban areas, the following 11 occupational categories of workers are eligible for the scheme:
- Ragpicker
- Beggar
- Domestic worker
- Street vendor/ Cobbler/hawker / other service provider working on streets
- Construction worker/ Plumber/ Mason/ Labour/ Painter/ Welder/ Security guard/ Coolie and other head-load worker
- Sweeper/ Sanitation worker/ Mali
- Home-based worker/ Artisan/ Handicrafts worker/ Tailor
- Transport worker/ Driver/ Conductor/ Helper to drivers and conductors/ Cart puller/ Rickshaw puller
- Shop worker/ Assistant/ Peon in small establishment/ Helper/Delivery assistant / Attendant/ Waiter
- Electrician/ Mechanic/ Assembler/ Repair worker
- Washer-man/ Chowkidar
What you get
> Financial Health Insurance Cover:
- Annual Hospitalization Coverage: Cashless coverage up to ₹5,00,000/- per family per year.- Comprehensive Treatment Costs: Covers consultation, medicines, diagnostics, surgery, ICU, implants, accommodation, and food.- Pre and Post Hospitalization Support: Covers 3 days pre-hospitalization and 15 days post-hospitalization expenses.- Treatment Complication Coverage: Covers complications arising during treatment.
> Coverage Features:
- Pre-Existing Disease Coverage: Covers all pre-existing diseases from day one.- No Family Size Limit: No restriction on age, gender, or family size.- Nationwide Portability: Benefits available across India in empanelled hospitals.- Wide Procedure Coverage: Covers approximately 1,929 medical procedures.
Who is excluded
- Those who own a two, three, or four-wheeler or a motorized fishing boat.
- Those who own mechanized farming equipment.
- Those who have Kisan cards with a credit limit of ₹50,000/-.
- Those employed by the government.
- Those who work in government-managed non-agricultural enterprises.
- Those earning a monthly income above ₹10,000/-.
- Those owning refrigerators and landlines.
- Those with decent, solidly built houses.
- Those owning 5 acres or more of agricultural land.
Found elsewhere in government
| Budget allocation | ₹9,500 cr for 2026-27
Centrally Sponsored
· Demand No. 46
· matched to budget line “Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY)”
at 1.0 (strong) |
Union Budget, Expenditure Profile Statement 4A |
What it promises to deliver this year
| Indicator | Measure | Target 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|
| output 2.1 | Estimated number of | 300.00 |
| output 3.1 | Amount of Claims | 36,000.00 |
| output 4.1 | Total number of Public | 800.00 |
| output 4.2 | Total number of Private | 1,000.00 |
| output 5.1 | % of confirmed fraud | 1.00 |
| outcome 2.1 | % change in number of | 5.00 |
| outcome 3.1 | % change in the number | 5.00 |
| outcome 4.1 | % change in the number | 8.00 |
| outcome 5.1 | Number of | 7.00 |
not about the scheme.
Provenance
| schemeName | Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana | myScheme · 2026-09-02 |
| schemeOpenDate | 2018-09-23 | myScheme · 2026-09-02 |
| schemeCloseDate | ... | not published at source |
| nodalMinistryName | Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare | myScheme · 2026-09-02 |
| dbtScheme | True | myScheme · 2026-09-02 |
| achievement data | ... | no source publishes this for any central scheme |