How PM-JAY Top-Up Helps Seniors Get Up to Rs 10 Lakh Medical Cover
Extra Rs 5 Lakh top-up for elderly under PM-JAY boosts total family health insurance to Rs 10 Lakh. Learn eligibility, benefits, and activation steps.
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Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)，the major public health insurance program of India，announces new top-up benefits for the elderlies allowing eligible households to get their annual coverage doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. The new scheme which is for those aged 70 and over comes as a financial relief in the form of higher coverage for medical care expenses at secondary and tertiary hospitals as per a report by The Financial Express.
Initially designed to protect poor households from the high cost of health, PM-JAY provides cashless and paperless insurance that includes hospitalization in thousands of public and private hospitals accredited by the government throughout India. One of the main advantages of the scheme is the immediate coverage of pre-existing conditions, thus allowing the families with chronic diseases to get their treatment without delays. Moreover, the scheme does not have age restrictions, gender limitations, or caps on family size.
Who Counts as a Family?
The concept of family as per PM-JAY goes beyond the nuclear family. It caters to:
- The primary beneficiary
- Wife or husband
- Children, including infants
- Parents and grandparents
- Brothers and sisters, in-laws, and any other living in the household that is dependent
There is no restriction on the number of family members; each one who is eligible gets the insurance benefits automatically.
The government has introduced an additional top-up of Rs 5 lakh for seniors who are aged 70 and above. This increase is over and above the regular family floater and thus it raises the maximum annual coverage limit for the eligible families to Rs 10 lakhs.
The conditions of eligibility are simple: whoever is 70 or older, confirmed by Aadhaar, is entitled to the extra cover. Senior citizens will have to go through Aadhaar eKYC in order to enjoy the extra benefits.
Features for Seniors
The increased PM-JAY perks have been purposely made to cater to the healthcare needs of the aged:
No upper age limit: Just like some private insurance policies, the coverage for seniors over 80 and 90 continues.
Preventive care: Health and Wellness Centres give free annual health check-ups.
Complete treatment coverage: This concerns operations, consultations with specialists, high-level care, and even major procedures such as organ transplants.
Through these measures, the older beneficiaries are provided the opportunity to get the best medical care without any financial burden, thus allowing families to depend on the scheme for life-saving health interventions.
At the same time, Rs 10 lakh yearly coverage, PM-JAY has become a source of financial security for old family members and their households that has been expanded. The professionals believe that the top-up would not only significantly lower the out-of-pocket medical expenses for families with elderly people but also be particularly beneficial for those who are suffering from long-term or complicated health problems.
