Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is a government health insurance scheme launched in 2018 to provide financial protection for hospital expenses to economically vulnerable families in India.

It mainly covers secondary and tertiary healthcare, meaning treatments that require hospitalization.

Key features:

• Covers up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for hospitalization
• Targets over 10 crore low-income families
• Offers cashless treatment at empanelled public and private hospitals
• No restriction on family size, age, or gender
• Funded by Central and State Governments
• Managed by the National Health Authority (NHA)

Ramesh, a daily wage worker near Nagpur, earns just enough to support his family. One day, his wife needed urgent surgery for gallstones, costing around ₹60,000.

With his Ayushman Bharat card, the treatment was done cashless at an empanelled hospital. The government paid the hospital directly, helping him avoid debt and financial stress.

• April 2018 – Ayushman Bharat Mission announced in Union Budget 2018–19
  • Two parts introduced:
    1. Health & Wellness Centres (HWCs) for primary care
    2. PM-JAY for hospital-based insurance
• September 2018 – PM-JAY officially launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi
  • Over 20 lakh treatments completed in the first year
• 2020 – Integration with various state health schemes for better coordination
• 2021–2023 – Expansion of digital systems and claim processing to improve transparency