Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday to increase the scope of Ayushman Bharat to cover all citizens with a Rs 10 lakh health insurance plan and a Rs 5 lakh accident insurance plan.
Apart from the families included by the 2011 Social, Economic, and Caste Census (SECC), he said the middle class also needed a scheme like Rajasthan's Chiranjeevi Yojana to afford a wide range of medical treatments.
"Due to the high expense of treatment in today's world, the middle class, in addition to SECC-eligible households, requires a programme like Chiranjeevi Yojana across the country." In a tweet, Gehlot said, "I implore you to broaden the scope of the Ayushman Bharat scheme and implement it on the lines of the Chiranjeevi Yojana for all inhabitants of the country with a Rs 10 lakh insurance and a Rs 5 lakh accident insurance."
While the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Scheme covers only 40% of the population and provides each individual with a Rs 5 lakh insurance cover, he claims the Chiranjeevi Yojana covers about eight crore people in Rajasthan and provides each individual with a Rs 10 lakh health insurance and a Rs 5 lakh accident coverage.
Families eligible under the SECC and National Food Security Act, contract workers, small and marginal farmers, and contract workers, according to the chief minister, do not have to pay a premium, while families from all other income groups can join the Chiranjeevi Yojana by paying an annual premium of Rs 850.
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