8 years of Ayushman Bharat: 60 crore beneficiaries, Rs 2 lakh crore in treatment
The Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) completed eight years of implementation, having been launched on 23 September 2018
Over 60 crore individuals are now covered under the scheme, which provides cashless hospitalisation cover of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year
As of end-August 2026, the scheme had funded around 13.25 crore hospital admissions with treatment worth approximately Rs 2.03 lakh crore, delivered through a network of over 38,000 empanelled government and private hospitals
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (the renamed Health and Wellness Centres), the scheme's primary healthcare arm, have recorded more than 500 crore cumulative visits
The milestone was marked with public messaging on the scheme's expansion of grassroots healthcare access
Ayushman Bharat–PMJAY: Design and Institutional Architecture
AB-PMJAY is the world's largest government-funded health assurance scheme, launched on 23 September 2018 as the secondary/tertiary care insurance component of the two-pillar "Ayushman Bharat" health protection mission (the other pillar being primary care via Health and Wellness Centres). It is implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA), the apex statutory body under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare responsible for PM-JAY's rollout, empanelment of hospitals, and the underlying digital health stack (including the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission).
Key Details
- Provides a health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary hospitalisation, on a family floater basis (no cap on family size or age)
- Targets the bottom 40% of India's population identified via Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) 2011 deprivation and occupational criteria, covering roughly 12 crore+ families
- Funded on a cost-sharing basis between the Centre and states — 60:40 for most states, 90:10 for northeastern and Himalayan states, and 100% central funding for Union Territories without a legislature
- Superseded the earlier Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY, 2008), which offered a much smaller cover of Rs 30,000 per family
The eight-year anniversary figures (60 crore beneficiaries, Rs 2.03 lakh crore in treatment) are being cited as evidence of the scheme's scale under this NHA-administered, Centre-state cost-shared architecture.
Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (formerly Health and Wellness Centres)
Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), the primary healthcare pillar of Ayushman Bharat since 2018, were renamed "Ayushman Arogya Mandirs" in November 2023 by the Union Health Ministry, with the tagline "Arogyam Paramam Dhanam" (health is supreme wealth), to give the network a more India-rooted identity and to signal an expanded, holistic scope of care.
Key Details
- Originally conceived to upgrade Sub-Centres and Primary Health Centres into HWCs offering an expanded range of services beyond reproductive and child health, including screening for non-communicable diseases (NCDs)
- Post-renaming, services expanded to include AYUSH-based wellness, yoga, mental health counselling, and elderly care
- Have recorded over 500 crore cumulative footfalls/visits since the mission's launch, functioning as the entry point of the primary healthcare pyramid
- Distinguished from PM-JAY itself: Arogya Mandirs handle primary/preventive care, while PM-JAY covers secondary/tertiary hospitalisation costs
The visit count for Ayushman Arogya Mandirs is cited alongside PM-JAY hospitalisation data to show both pillars (primary care access and hospitalisation cover) of the Ayushman Bharat mission are being publicised together on the anniversary.
Universal Health Coverage and India's Health Financing Mix
PM-JAY is India's principal instrument for advancing towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) — a WHO-endorsed goal ensuring all individuals access needed health services without financial hardship. India's public health expenditure has historically been low relative to GDP, making publicly financed insurance schemes like PM-JAY central to reducing high out-of-pocket health expenditure (OOPE).
Key Details
- National Health Policy 2017 set a target of raising public health spending to 2.5% of GDP; India's public health expenditure has risen gradually but remains below several global peers
- OOPE as a share of India's total health expenditure has declined over the PM-JAY period, per National Health Accounts estimates, though it remains a significant driver of poverty (catastrophic health expenditure)
- PM-JAY complements state-specific health assurance schemes (e.g., Odisha's Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana, Rajasthan's Chiranjeevi scheme), some of which offer top-up cover beyond the central scheme's Rs 5 lakh limit
- Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana, a 2024 extension, offers PM-JAY cover to all senior citizens aged 70 and above regardless of income category
The anniversary framing of "60 crore beneficiaries" positions PM-JAY as the flagship vehicle for India's UHC commitments, a recurring GS2 theme linking health policy to social justice and poverty reduction.
- PM-JAY launch date: 23 September 2018, at Ranchi, Jharkhand
- Cover: Rs 5 lakh per family per year, family floater, no cap on age or family size
- Beneficiaries covered: over 60 crore individuals (as of the 8-year mark, September 2026)
- Hospital admissions funded (cumulative, as of end-August 2026): ~13.25 crore
- Cumulative treatment value: ~Rs 2.03 lakh crore
- Empanelled hospitals: over 38,000 (government and private)
- Ayushman Arogya Mandir cumulative visits: over 500 crore
- Centre-state funding ratio: 60:40 (general states), 90:10 (NE/Himalayan states)
- Implementing agency: National Health Authority (NHA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare